With less than two and a half hours remaining on the first day of MotoGP testing at Losail, Aprilia is being the stronger so far. Aleix Espargaró leads the time charts, with Miguel Oliveira in 21st place.
The RS-GP bikes are proving to be competitive on the Qatar track so far. Espargaró’s best time puts him in the lead: 1m53.088s. He is 0.176s ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team/Ducati), while Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) is third, 0.188s behind. The official Ducati bikes of Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini round out the top five.
In sixth place is vice-champion Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), just ahead of Raúl Fernández (Trackhouse Racing/Aprilia) – who is back on track less than two weeks after suffering three fractures on the first day of testing in Sepang.
Following them in the top ten are the best Honda of Joan Mir, Brad Binder on the best KTM, and Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati), while Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) sits in 12th place on the best YZR-M1. Rookie Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) was in the top five earlier but is now 18th. With 46 laps completed, he has covered the most mileage so far.
Timesheets at 16h40 (CET time):