Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Viñales will start the first race of the season from the front row of the grid. Both riders set times in Q2 that were under the previous all-time lap record of the Losail International Circuit, and they secured 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Quartararo and Viñales waited at the start of the Q2 session to be ensured of some clear space on track for their hot laps.
On his first try Quartararo secured second place, but it was just the beginning. He showed it wasn‘t a lucky shot when he posted another impressive lap time, a 1‘53.038s, for provisional first place. The time remained unthreatened as all riders returned to the pits for a fresh set of tyres.
The Frenchman re-entered the track on his own again with slightly more than four minutes left on the clock. Unable to improve on his earlier time on his first try, he had hoped to be able to push for one more lap, but it wasn‘t to be. He missed out on the chance of another lap by just a second. Still, his 1‘53.038s kept him firmly in second place, 0.266s from first.
Viñales had found clear space on track and slotted his M1 into third place on his benchmark lap. The pace was increasing rapidly, with many sectors in the live timing flashing orange and red. The Spaniard responded by defending his position with a 1‘53.260s, to stay third, 0.222s from his teammate in first.
With exactly five minutes to go, the number 12-rider started his second run. He briefly secured second place with a 1‘53.124 before he was pushed back to fourth. He had one more try and made it count. He improved his time by 0.036s to a 1'53.088s and took third place, with a 0.316s margin to the fastest time.
