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Espargaro sets early Qatar pace

John Hopkins by John Hopkins
March 20, 2014
in Reports, Results and Points
0
Photo courtesy motogp.com

Aleix Espargaro was almost half a second clear of his nearest rival as the new MotoGP season got underway.

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Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) set the pace in the opening MotoGP practice session of the year in Qatar on Thursday, with Alvaro Baustista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) second and third respectively.

In the first Grand Prix practice session of the new ‘Open’ class era it was Espargaro in P1 with his Open entry Forward Yamaha with a 1:55.201 best lap, with Bautista 0.466 secs. behind him. Espargaro’s pace was over 0.3 secs. slower than he went in testing at the Losail circuit two weeks ago.

Espargaro headed the timing screens at the beginning of the session, while using a harder tire, riding in the higher region 1:55 territory on his ‘Open’ Forward Yamaha and the Spaniard was able to further improve his lap time on a softer tire.

“It’s a great start and it’s a good feeling to be on top of the time sheets,” Espargaro said. “We know that we had some advantage compared to the factory riders, because we were testing here two weeks ago and we started the practice session already with a good set up.

“Anyway I’m happy because I was fast with both soft and hard tire. I’m sure that tomorrow everybody will improve, but we also have room for improvement so I’m really excited to this start of the season. The most important thing is to keep on working and being focused, it’s just the first free practice and my target is to fight for the podium on Sunday.”

At the start of his second season in MotoGP Smith was third by a 0.6s margin, with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) also in top five as the riders who tested in Qatar occupying the top end of the timesheet.

“Today was a really good start for us,” Smith said. “The track conditions were different to when we tested here, probably due to a sandstorm which happened recently. However, the grip improved during the session and I was able to do 1:55 lap times again.”

The younger Espargaro brother appears to be riding smoothly despite his collarbone injury sustained 10 days ago at this track.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were the quickest Factory riders in sixth and seventh, while the top 10 was completed by Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing), Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar).

World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was 11th as he tested his fitness after breaking his right leg in preseason.

–From motogp.com

Practice Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

1

Aleix Espargaro

41

ESP

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

1’55.201

2

Alvaro Bautista

19

ESP

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

1’55.667

3

Bradley Smith

38

GBR

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

1’55.816

4

Andrea Iannone

29

ITA

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1’55.996

5

Pol Espargaro

44

ESP

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

1’56.020

6

Dani Pedrosa

26

ESP

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1’56.332

7

Valentino Rossi

46

ITA

Yamaha Factory

YAMAHA

1’56.542

8

Colin Edwards

5

USA

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

1’56.626

9

Jorge Lorenzo

99

ESP

Yamaha Factory Racing

YAMAHA

1’56.668

10

Nicky Hayden

69

USA

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

1’56.670

11

Marc Marquez

93

ESP

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1’56.682

12

Stefan Bradl

6

GER

LCR Honda MotoGP

HONDA

1’56.726

13

Cal Crutchlow

35

GBR

Ducati Team

DUCATI

1’57.046

14

Andrea Dovizioso

4

ITA

Ducati Team

DUCATI

1’57.100

15

Yonny Hernandez

68

COL

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1’57.623

16

Karel Abraham

17

CZE

Cardion AB Motoracing

HONDA

1’57.779

17

Hiroshi Aoyama

7

JPN

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

1’58.182

18

Hector Barbera

8

ESP

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

1’58.394

19

Scott Redding

45

GBR

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

1’58.495

20

Mike Di Meglio

63

FRA

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

1’58.732

21

Danilo Petrucci

9

ITA

IodaRacing Project

IODA-SUTER

1’59.321

22

Broc Parkes

23

AUS

Paul Bird Motorsport

PBM

1’59.328

23

Michael Laverty

70

GBR

Paul Bird Motorsport

ART & PBM

No Time Set

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Tags: Aleix EspargaroAlvaro BautistaAndrea IannoneBradley SmithGO&FUN Honda GresinilosailMonster Yamaha Tech3MotoGPNGM Forward Racing
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