Alex Rins became the first man to break Fabio Quartararo’s stranglehold on pre-season running so far as the final Qatar test got underway, the Suzuki man heading team-mate Joan Mir.
Suzuki looked consistently strong at the first pre-season test at Sepang just a couple of weeks ago, and look to have transferred their impressive pace to the 5.3km Losail International Circuit-Rins’ 1:54.462 just 0.002 up on Mir.
Third fastest at the end of day one was the leading factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales, the Spaniard heading Danilo Petrucci on the factory Ducati.
The Ducati outfit displayed a radical new adjustable ride height device that allows its riders to lower the rear of the bike on the straights-improving aerodynamic efficiency- before righting itself on entry to the next corner to maximise cornering speed.
It was a day of data gathering for its riders though-Petrucci’s time coming with a final time attack run in the closing minutes-while Andrea Dovizioso ended the day 11th fastest overall.
Marc Marquez-who continues to improve his fitness following his shoulder operation over the winter-, took the sixth fastest time for Honda, just ahead of Valentino Rossi on the second factory M1.
Quartararo settled for the eighth fastest time today as he looked to try and build up race simulation data for the main event in a fortnight, trailing team-mate Franco Morbidelli who managed fifth fastest.
Francesco Bagnaia managed the ninth quickest time on his Pramac-run satellite Ducati, while Aleix Espargaro continued to put the new Aprilia RS-GP’s pedigree on display with a solid tenth fastest effort-0.806 down on Rins’ benchmark.
Bradley Smith-who looks ever more likely to be Espargaro’s team-mate as Andrea Iannone’s doping trial continues to drag on- completed the day’s running towards the foot of the timesheets in 22nd, the Brit half-a-second down on 21st placed Alex Marquez as he focussed purely on long-run performance.
KTM had a quiet day in the Qatari heat, Pol Espargaro the manufacturers highest-placed representative in 14th-just under a second down on the fastest time-with rookie team-mate Brad Binder just a couple-tenths further back in 16th.
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