Team Suzuki Press Office – March 4.
Alex Rins: 1st – 1’53.432
Joan Mir: 3rd – 1’53.579 (+ 0.147s)
Team Suzuki Ecstar enjoyed a great start to the first race weekend of the season with both riders showing excellent early pace at Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
The afternoon’s FP1 session started out cloudy with some dust still hanging around the track, but it didn’t stop Alex Rins from lighting up the timesheets. Joan Mir was quick to join his teammate in the Top 5 and both riders clocked very quick top speeds. Alex and Joan favoured the hard compound tyres for the majority of the session but switched to softs for the final laps. Rins closed FP1 in 3rd, and Mir in 7th. The Top 15 riders were covered by 1 second.
As night fell the team were feeling prepared for FP2, especially as it was likely to be the Top 10 splitter for qualifying with temperatures more favourable in the evening than the afternoon. The Suzuki pair took it easy in the first part of the session, before going for time attacks. Mir was the first one to hit the top of the timesheets, and then Rins did the same. The session continued to tick by, and with less than 5 minutes to go both riders headed out for a final push. Rins was extremely strong over several sectors, especially sector 3, and this allowed him to reclaim top spot. Mir was close behind in 3rd.
Alex Rins:
“Today was a good day, we worked hard in the pre-season and it seems to have paid off because the bike is working well – even a bit better than we expected! I was able to be fast with used tyres and new ones, so that gives me some confidence for the next days. Obviously, we need to keep working and pushing because the level is high out there, but it’s certainly a great start.”
Joan Mir:
“It’s only the first day, but I’m very happy about how everything’s going, I feel great with the bike and we can really see and feel that the package has improved compared with last year. We understood what was needed to get faster and more competitive, and now everything feels a little easier, so that’s really important. I tried all the tyre options and I liked the feeling of all of them here, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“It’s a good start to the weekend, and a good initiation for me as a first day on track. Both our guys did a really good job and the bike is looking very fast, for a Friday I can’t ask for more! We’re aiming to continue like this for the whole weekend, and the feeling is good for the coming days.”
GRAND PRIX OF QATAR DAY 1 CLASSIFICATION:
1 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’53.432
2 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’53.467 0.035 0.035
3 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’53.579 0.147 0.112
4 Jorge MARTIN Pramac Racing 1’53.652 0.220 0.073
5 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’53.845 0.413 0.193
6 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 153.870 0.438 0.025
7 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 1’53.886 0.454 0.016
8 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’53.906 0.474 0.020
9 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team 1’53.963 0.531 0.057
10 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1’53.971 0.539 0.008
11 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’54.013 0.581 0.042
12 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1’54.038 0.606 0.025
13 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’54.053 0.621 0.015
14 Andrea DOVIZIOSO With Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 154.153 0.721 0.100
15 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’54.247 0.815 0.094
16 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL 1’54.475 1.043 0.228
17 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing 1’54.524 1.092 0.049
18 Johann ZARCO Pramac Racing 154.565 1.133 0.041
19 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 1’54.884 1.452 0.319
20 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’54 900 1.468 0.016
21 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 1’54.929 1.497 0.029
22 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’55.371 1.939 0.442
23 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 155.775 2.343 0.404
24 Darryn BINDER With Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 1’55.915 2.483 0.140
