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Hello and welcome to Autosport's live coverage of MotoGP's Qatar Grand Prix.
We are at the Losail circuit, on the outskirts of Doha, for the now-traditional season opener. It's qualifying day - or should that be night - before the first race of the season tomorrow.
We have about five minutes left in the final practice session, before the two-part qualifying session starts in about 15 minutes.
It's been a busy session - Jack Miller, Loris Baz, Scott Redding and Stefan Bradl have all fallen. Cal Crutchlow had a near miss, clipping the rear of Dani Pedrosa's Honda coming onto the front straight, and Andrea Iannone has run wide.
Marc Marquez leads the way, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Iannone, Valentino Rossi, Maverick Vinales, Pol Espargaro, Redding, Crutchlow and Pedrosa.
Rossi has also crossed paths with his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, while he was on a fast lap and Lorenzo was not. The Italian was not happy about that.
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But he will be happy about his new, two-year Yamaha deal, which was announced earlier today: 
Lorenzo has jumped up to second in this session, and Rossi is now fourth, with about 30 seconds remaining.
Both Yamaha riders are on fast laps here, with Rossi getting a tow from Lorenzo...
Checkered flag
Lorenzo goes top as the chequered flag flies, Rossi backed off and did not improve.
Lorenzo's lap, a 1m55.301s, remained the fastest of the session. Marquez was second, ahead of Dovizioso, Rossi, Iannone, Crutchlow, Espargaro, Vinales, Redding and Pedrosa.
To bring you up to speed with what has happened so far this week...
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Reigning world champion Lorenzo led the way in the very first session of the year, way back on Thursday night: 
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Yesterday was all about Ducati, as Iannone led the way in FP2: 
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And then again in FP3. Remember, Ducati is chasing its first win in more than five years: 
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Honda struggled on Thursday, with Marquez lamenting inconsistent performance from his electronics: 
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But with a simple change of settings, he was happy again yesterday, and as these FP4 times show, will be right in the mix tonight in the fight for pole position: 
Some more interesting scenes between Rossi and Lorenzo following their brush earlier in the session - in which Rossi turned around to remonstrate with Lorenzo exiting the corner. The pair appeared to exchange more words on the way back to pitlane, while getting ready for practice starts.
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Suzuki has been pushing on with its full-seamless gearbox, although Suzuki boss Davide Brivio suggests Vinales is more likely to use the upshift-only version tomorrow night: 
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We are actually missing a rider tonight. Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci is out for the weekend, and the next two GPs, after reinjuring the right hand he broke during testing in Australia last month: 
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Coming up in a moment, we have a 15-minute shootout to set the bottom half of the grid, and promote two riders to the final phase of qualifying. Last night, Iannone, Lorenzo, Marquez, Dovizioso, Vinales, Pedrosa, Rossi, Barbera, Redding and Pol Espargaro booked their QP2 places.
Green flag
QP1 is go. Bradl, Miller, Laverty, Rabat and Baz head straight out.
Look for the two promotion positions to be fought out between Aleix Espargaro, Smith and Crutchlow.
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Smith actually started the 2017 MotoGP silly season on Wednesday, announcing that he is set to leave Tech3 Yamaha at the end of this year: 
All of the riders are heading out on the soft front and read Michelin tyres, as you would expect given the cut-throat nature of this 15-minute session.
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Smith has fallen twice so far this weekend, once each night.
"I seemed to get a little bit lost in the bike setting and what we were trying to achieve, so balance and tyres were a little bit wrong," he said last night after FP3.
"For some reason, the tyres worked yesterday and didn’t work today, and vice versa, especially in the front, so I was really chasing something around in circles and not really going anywhere."
"I seemed to get a little bit lost in the bike setting and what we were trying to achieve, so balance and tyres were a little bit wrong," he said last night after FP3.
"For some reason, the tyres worked yesterday and didn’t work today, and vice versa, especially in the front, so I was really chasing something around in circles and not really going anywhere."
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Crutchlow also fell last night, but that was not at the forefront of his memory, given ongoing engine-braking problems on his LCR Suzuki.
“I’d forgotten about the crash, to be honest, the rest of it was worse than the crash,” he said after FP3.
“That was probably the best thing that happened tonight. A disaster of a day, no feeling with the front of the bike coming into the corner, we have problem with the engine brake, the same as yesterday.”
“I’d forgotten about the crash, to be honest, the rest of it was worse than the crash,” he said after FP3.
“That was probably the best thing that happened tonight. A disaster of a day, no feeling with the front of the bike coming into the corner, we have problem with the engine brake, the same as yesterday.”
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Laverty leads the way at the moment with a time of 1m56.505s, just 0.047s ahead of Smith, after two laps.
Baz is third, ahead of Bradl, Espargaro, Crutchlow, Hernandez and Rabat. No times yet from Bautista and Miller.
Lavery improves again, to a 1m56.236s, three tenths up on Smith.
All change, as Hernandez and then Crutchlow take top spot. Crutchlow by a massive 0.866s, thanks to his 1m55.291s lap.
For Crutchlow, that is seven-tenths up on what he managed at all during practice.
Crash
Espargaro has fallen on his Suzuki. He is running back from Turn 1, to try to get back to the garage and get back on his second bike, with six minutes remaining.
Smith has improved, he is back into second, 0.597s behind Crutchlow.
Crutchlow has returned to the LCR Honda garage. Espargaro is back out on his second Suzuki.
Smith has improved again to be within 0.241s of Crutchlow. And he is set to go faster again this lap.
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Smith improves again, as he continues to run. He is now within 0.199s off Crutchlow. A few riders made the point last night that the fast times on these Michelin tyres don't necessarily come on the first flying lap. Something to keep in mind for the second session.
By: Matt Beer
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