With roughly 90 minutes remaining in the MotoGP pre-season, Francesco Bagnaia has already lapped well below the official Losail circuit record. The rider continues to lead the timesheets.
On his best of 31 laps, during the night session, Bagnaia (Ducati) clocked a time of 1m50.952s, leading his teammate Enea Bastianini by 0.120s. The official lap record for the Qatar circuit, set in November last year, stands at 1m51.762s. This considerable improvement highlights the evolution of the bikes in a short period.
Following on the timesheets are the two factory Aprilias of Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales, with Jorge Martín (Pramac/Ducati) in fifth place. The last rider within a second of the leader is Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) in eighth – just ahead of his brother and teammate Marc Márquez.
The two Monster Energy Yamaha riders, Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins, are in 11th and 12th respectively, ahead of Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), who has the best RC213V in the standings. Meanwhile, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) sits in 14th, just above the two riders from the KTM factory team.
Timesheets at 17h29 (CET time):