The practice session for the Moto3 Qatar Grand Prix was, to say the least, eventful. The Losail lap record was broken, there was a red flag, and also rain fell – very unusual weather conditions in Losail.
After the first laps, José Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was leading, with the Spaniard holding onto that position for almost the entire session thanks to a lap that was already an absolute record of the circuit. Less than eight minutes before the end, unspecified technical problems forced a red flag.
The interruption lasted several minutes, and when the session resumed, the times improved even more. Adrián Fernández (Leopard Racing/Honda) surpassed Rueda, before Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) set the best time of the session: 2m03.606s. Fernández was 0.063s behind, while Matteo Bertelle (Rivacold Snipers Team/Honda) finished third, 0.169s off the pace.
In the final minutes, torrential rain appeared in Losail, preventing riders from improving their lap times. Rueda was one of the affected riders: not only did he fail to go beyond fourth, he was also surprised by the state of the asphalt and suffered a spectacular crash in the last corner – emerging unscathed. Iván Ortolá (MT Helmets-MSi/KTM), leader of FP1, finished fifth, 0.229s off the top.
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