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Qatar MotoGP: Rossi tops first '19 practice session, Lorenzo second

Yamaha's Valentino Rossi topped the opening practice session of the 2019 MotoGP season in Qatar, leading Honda pair Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez

Reigning champion Marquez led the majority of the 45-minute daylight session after setting an early benchmark of 1m55.164s, which stood as the best time until the closing moments.

In his first official practice session as a Honda rider, Lorenzo managed to beat Marquez with a 1m55.217s to briefly go top of the order with two minutes left on the clock.

But with 10 seconds left before the chequered flag was shown, Rossi logged a 1m55.048s to beat Lorenzo by 0.079 seconds and Marquez by 0.116s.

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso (pictured below) was fourth fastest, just 0.169s shy of Rossi, while his new team-mate Danilo Petrucci was exactly half a tenth further back in fifth.

Maverick Vinales ended up sixth fastest on the second of the factory Yamahas, 0.276s slower than pacesetting team-mate Rossi.

Franco Morbidelli was top independent rider in eighth for Petronas SRT Yamaha, followed by Jack Miller on the Pramac Ducati, Suzuki's Alex Rins and the leading LCR Honda of Takaaki Nakagami.

Fabio Quartararo (SRT Yamaha) was the best of the rookies in 11th, less than half a second off the pace.

Pol Espargaro led KTM's efforts in 12th, one place ahead of elder brother Aleix on the Aprilia and seven ahead of team-mate Johann Zarco in 19th.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR) was the 17th and final rider to lap within a second of Rossi.

Tech3 KTM rider Hafizh Syahrin was the first rider to crash early in the session and ended up 22nd, ahead of only Aprilia test rider Bradley Smith.

FP1 times

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap Laps
1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m55.048s 18
2 Jorge Lorenzo Honda Honda 0.079s 16
3 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 0.116s 17
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 0.169s 17
5 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Ducati 0.219s 17
6 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 0.264s 19
7 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 0.276s 18
8 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.348s 17
9 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 0.361s 16
10 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 0.448s 17
11 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 0.461s 16
12 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 0.572s 15
13 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 0.730s 14
14 Joan Mir Suzuki Suzuki 0.780s 17
15 Andrea Iannone Aprilia Aprilia 0.780s 17
16 Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.787s 15
17 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 0.821s 17
18 Miguel Oliveira Tech3 KTM KTM 1.013s 16
19 Johann Zarco KTM KTM 1.158s 17
20 Karel Abraham Avintia Ducati Ducati 1.201s 16
21 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1.241s 16
22 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 KTM KTM 2.133s 12
23 Bradley Smith Aprilia Aprilia 2.141s 16


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