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Moto GP; Marc Marquez pips Lorenzo by 0,001s in FP3 in Qatar

from Twowheelsblog

This evening’s third free practice Qatar turned into a pseudo qualifying session with riders putting in hot laps instead of concentrating on set-up or doing consecutive runs due to the new qualifying format that sees the first ten riders going directly into QP2 based on their combined practice lap times.

In this time attack, Marc Marquez once again topped the time sheets with a best lap 1’56.084 and pipping Jorge Lorenzo by just one thousandth of a second in his last flying lap demoting the Yamaha rider to second, and they were followed by Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi, who spent most of his session deciding on which tire compound to use for Sunday’s race, as it looks like the softer version won’t last the distance for him.

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso had a fantastic session as he finished fifth overall, but he was just 0.333s from Marquez and 0.001s from Rossi, but all the Ducati riders will probably have to use the harder compound as they have excessive tire with the softer version. Dani Pedrosa seems to have partially solved his entry corner issues as he closed the gap to just 0.418s, but still ran off track several times.

Alvaro Bautista also made a big jump forward and he was 7th, while Nicky Hayden took 8th. MotoGP rookie Bradley Smith also did a stunning lap that put him into 9th, and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl closed out the top ten that put him into QP2 and their were 10 riders with one second.

Those who didn’t make it into the ten will go into QP1 and that includes both Pramac riders Andrea Iannone and Ben Spies and the eleven CRT riders. The two fastest riders in QP1 will then able to go into the fifteen minute QP2.

MotoGP Qatar FP3 results:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’56.084
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.001
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.242
04- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.332
05- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.333
06- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.418
07- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.488
08- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.586
09- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.817
10- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.900

MOTO GP ; Marc Marquez tops FP2 at Losail with flying lap

The second free practice in Qatar was delayed due to light drops of rain falling on the track but the track surface was deemed safe just a few minutes later and the session got the greenlight, but a very stiff wind brought a lot of sand on the track that hampered lap times for many riders.

Marc Marquez did flying lap on fresh tires with three minutes left in the session and using Valentino Rossi as a reference point, posted the best time in 1.56.477 that put him on the top of the timesheets and bettering Jorge Lorenzo’s yesterday’s top time by more that two tenths of a second.

Marquez’ best lap however was just a single hot lap, as the MotoGP rookie then missed his braking point at the now famous turn 1 and ran off track, and at the moment doesn’t have the race pace to stay with Lorenzo and Rossi.

Lorenzo was second fastest and 0.268s adrift after having lead the session for the better part of the 45 minutes and using the new chassis. Valentino Rossi was third and 0.060s from his team mate, however he wasn’t feeling well today. The Italian is lamenting a bad headache that is apparently caused by a bout of sinusitis that forced the Yamaha rider to ask the Clinica Mobile for some help. Both Yamaha riders set their best times on used tires and during brief runs.

Cal Crutchlow continues to impress as he was fourth and Stefan Bradl was fifth, and until Marquez’s flying lap was the fastest Honda rider.

Andrea Dovizioso was sixth, but he dropped more than 1.3 seconds and is using a smaller fairing on his GP13, and continued using hard tires and will be waiting for a completely newbike that should arrive in July, according to Paolo Ciabatti. Dani Pedrosa had another horrible session, evidently his corner entry issues haven’t been solved as he ran off track at least three times and was 1.4 seconds from his team mate.

Nicky Hayden was eighth but already more than 1.5 seconds adrift and was followed by Pramac’s and fellow Ducati rider Ben Spies. Closing out the top ten was Alvaro Bautista who is still having problems with his fractured fingers.

After yesterday’s impressive 9th place Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro dropped to 13th and was more than 2,5 seconds adrift.

If any practice session in Qatar is interrupted by rain, the session will be postponed until the day after, as the reflection of the floodlights on a wet track means it is impossible to ride in the rain and Bridgestone doesn’t bring rain tires to the desert. In 2009 torrential rain forced the race to postponed to Monday evening.

MotoGP Qatar FP2 results:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’56.477
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.268
03- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.328
04- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.692
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.780
06- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.356
07- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 1.400
08- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.563
09- Ben Spies – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.660
10- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.821

from TWOWHEELSBLOG