2017 MotoGP Qatar *Spoilers*

[duccarlos]

Wanted to get this thread going:

http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2017/03/22/qatargp-the-lowdown-from-the-press-conference/221478

[duccarlos]

Today's schedule! All times in EST. Can't wait for this season!

11:00 - 11:40 Moto3 Free Practice Nr. 1
11:55 - 12:40 Moto2 Free Practice Nr. 1
12:55 - 13:40 MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1
13:55 - 14:35 Moto3 Free Practice Nr. 2
14:50 - 15:35 Moto2 Free Practice Nr. 2

[duccarlos]

No surprises here. FP1:

Pos.   Num.   Rider   Nation   Team   Bike   Km/h   Time   Gap 1st/Prev.
1   25   Maverick VIÑALES   SPA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   334.8   1'54.316   
2   93   Marc MARQUEZ   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   337.7   1'54.912   0.596 / 0.596
3   26   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   337.7   1'55.210   0.894 / 0.298
4   94   Jonas FOLGER   GER   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   333.3   1'55.587   1.271 / 0.377
5   99   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Ducati Team   Ducati   342.9   1'55.607   1.291 / 0.020
6   76   Loris BAZ   FRA   Reale Avintia Racing   Ducati   333.6   1'55.624   1.308 / 0.017
7   35   Cal CRUTCHLOW   GBR   LCR Honda   Honda   334.1   1'55.639   1.323 / 0.015
8   5   Johann ZARCO   FRA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   334.2   1'55.792   1.476 / 0.153
9   46   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   339.6   1'55.799   1.483 / 0.007
10   41   Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   332.2   1'55.872   1.556 / 0.073
11   4   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   342.8   1'55.873   1.557 / 0.001
12   45   Scott REDDING   GBR   OCTO Pramac Racing   Ducati   339.9   1'56.000   1.684 / 0.127
13   29   Andrea IANNONE   ITA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   334.6   1'56.027   1.711 / 0.027
14   19   Alvaro BAUTISTA   SPA   Pull&Bear Aspar Team   Ducati   343.8   1'56.128   1.812 / 0.101
15   17   Karel ABRAHAM   CZE   Pull&Bear Aspar Team   Ducati   338.4   1'56.399   2.083 / 0.271
16   9   Danilo PETRUCCI   ITA   OCTO Pramac Racing   Ducati   341.5   1'56.419   2.103 / 0.020
17   43   Jack MILLER   AUS   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   334.9   1'56.453   2.137 / 0.034
18   42   Alex RINS   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   334.9   1'56.502   2.186 / 0.049
19   53   Tito RABAT   SPA   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   336.0   1'56.725   2.409 / 0.223
20   8   Hector BARBERA   SPA   Reale Avintia Racing   Ducati   341.5   1'56.725   2.409
21   44   Pol ESPARGARO   SPA   Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   KTM   334.8   1'57.630   3.314 / 0.905
22   22   Sam LOWES   GBR   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   330.8   1'57.887   3.571 / 0.257
23   38   Bradley SMITH   GBR   Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   KTM   332.6   1'58.114   3.798 / 0.227

[duccarlos]

Actually, I was wrong. Folger in P4 and Jorghey in P5 are surprises.

[Speeddog]

FP1, Ho Lee Shyt.

Kopf's boy is solidly on fire.
0.6sec ahead of MM in 2nd.
MM 0.3sec ahead of Pedrosa in 3rd.
Gaps are huge.

JLo 5th, Crusty 7th (Bike 1 spewed some oil, and bike 2 may have done the same).

Poncharal is looking a genius, Folger 4th, Zarco 8th.

Rossi 9th, but FP1, so no big deal, right?
But he's 4th Yamaha.
And 1.5sec down on Vinales.
That's a long ways off.

[duccarlos]

FP1, Ho Lee Shyt.

Kopf's boy is solidly on fire.
0.6sec ahead of MM in 2nd.
MM 0.3sec ahead of Pedrosa in 3rd.
Gaps are huge.

JLo 5th, Crusty 7th (Bike 1 spewed some oil, and bike 2 may have done the same).

Poncharal is looking a genius, Folger 4th, Zarco 8th.

Rossi 9th, but FP1, so no big deal, right?
But he's 4th Yamaha.
And 1.5sec down on Vinales.
That's a long ways off.

Rossi has been struggling all preseason. Granted, in previous years he doesn't exactly light up the board, but generally he gets his head together by WUP. We'll see how it goes since he seems to be a bit flustered this year. Vinales has been on fire all preseason and it's all anyone can talk about, so it's no surprised that he's leading the pack by such a large margin.

Folger in 4th 

I have to watch the whole FP1 since the few times I picked it up, Dovi was always ahead of Jorghey on the timesheets. I doubt he's found something magical that will translate to success on Sunday.

I like seeing Pedrosa in the top 5 again. Hopefully he's feeling comfortable on this year's bike.

[Speeddog]

AFAIK, Dovi did not fit a soft tire to go for a time attack.

Several others too, I reckon.

[ducpainter]

AFAIK, Dovi did not fit a soft tire to go for a time attack.

Several others too, I reckon.

Lorenzo did, and led for a minute or two.

[ducpainter]

Lorenzo went storming out the back of the box after FP2.

That guy is a head case.

Scott Redding fastest in FP2.

Herve Poncheral made a couple of great choices. Both of his rookies were faster than You'reghey.

[Speeddog]

Odd session, only saw the last half.

Track was a lot slower, no chatter as to why, perhaps I missed that too.
<edit>
Wind and rain since last night fuxxored the track.
</edit>

JLo is not a happy bunny, perhaps due to Redding and Bautista being ahead of him on older kit.

[duccarlos]

FP2:

Pos.   Num.   Rider   Nation   Team   Bike   Km/h   Time   Gap 1st/Prev.
1   45   Scott REDDING   GBR   OCTO Pramac Racing   Ducati   343.2   1'55.085   
2   4   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   347.8   1'55.185   0.100 / 0.100
3   94   Jonas FOLGER   GER   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   341.0   1'55.208   0.123 / 0.023
4   5   Johann ZARCO   FRA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   344.8   1'55.316   0.231 / 0.108
5   25   Maverick VIÑALES   SPA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   342.7   1'55.378   0.293 / 0.062
6   46   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   341.7   1'55.414   0.329 / 0.036
7   19   Alvaro BAUTISTA   SPA   Pull&Bear Aspar Team   Ducati   349.6   1'55.581   0.496 / 0.167
8   99   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Ducati Team   Ducati   347.8   1'55.604   0.519 / 0.023
9   93   Marc MARQUEZ   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   341.5   1'55.698   0.613 / 0.094
10   41   Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   339.9   1'55.750   0.665 / 0.052
11   9   Danilo PETRUCCI   ITA   OCTO Pramac Racing   Ducati   344.3   1'55.760   0.675 / 0.010
12   35   Cal CRUTCHLOW   GBR   LCR Honda   Honda   341.2   1'55.828   0.743 / 0.068
13   43   Jack MILLER   AUS   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   341.7   1'55.959   0.874 / 0.131
14   17   Karel ABRAHAM   CZE   Pull&Bear Aspar Team   Ducati   345.7   1'56.003   0.918 / 0.044
15   29   Andrea IANNONE   ITA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   337.3   1'56.069   0.984 / 0.066
16   42   Alex RINS   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   341.7   1'56.179   1.094 / 0.110
17   53   Tito RABAT   SPA   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   343.0   1'56.368   1.283 / 0.189
18   76   Loris BAZ   FRA   Reale Avintia Racing   Ducati   339.1   1'56.501   1.416 / 0.133
19   26   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   343.2   1'56.530   1.445 / 0.029
20   8   Hector BARBERA   SPA   Reale Avintia Racing   Ducati   345.8   1'56.934   1.849 / 0.404
21   44   Pol ESPARGARO   SPA   Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   KTM   342.7   1'57.116   2.031 / 0.182
22   22   Sam LOWES   GBR   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   336.1   1'57.517   2.432 / 0.401
23   38   Bradley SMITH   GBR   Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   KTM   338.8   1'58.020   2.935 / 0.503

[duccarlos]

i just goes to show that if there's one speck of dust on the track, it will affect Jorghey and he will complain about it. Is good to see someone other than Maverick up there.

[duccarlos]

FP3:

Pos.   Num.   Rider   Nation   Team   Bike   Km/h   Time   Gap 1st/Prev.
1   25   Maverick VIÑALES   SPA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   339.5   1'54.834   
2   29   Andrea IANNONE   ITA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   337.5   1'54.848   0.014 / 0.014
3   5   Johann ZARCO   FRA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   341.0   1'55.008   0.174 / 0.160
4   4   Andrea DOVIZIOSO   ITA   Ducati Team   Ducati   348.0   1'55.042   0.208 / 0.034
5   26   Dani PEDROSA   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   344.0   1'55.113   0.279 / 0.071
6   35   Cal CRUTCHLOW   GBR   LCR Honda   Honda   339.8   1'55.211   0.377 / 0.098
7   93   Marc MARQUEZ   SPA   Repsol Honda Team   Honda   343.0   1'55.296   0.462 / 0.085
8   9   Danilo PETRUCCI   ITA   OCTO Pramac Racing   Ducati   344.7   1'55.435   0.601 / 0.139
9   99   Jorge LORENZO   SPA   Ducati Team   Ducati   348.7   1'55.461   0.627 / 0.026
10   41   Aleix ESPARGARO   SPA   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   344.8   1'55.634   0.800 / 0.173
11   19   Alvaro BAUTISTA   SPA   Pull&Bear Aspar Team   Ducati   347.0   1'55.676   0.842 / 0.042
12   94   Jonas FOLGER   GER   Monster Yamaha Tech 3   Yamaha   338.3   1'55.713   0.879 / 0.037
13   46   Valentino ROSSI   ITA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   Yamaha   342.6   1'55.790   0.956 / 0.077
14   17   Karel ABRAHAM   CZE   Pull&Bear Aspar Team   Ducati   345.6   1'56.095   1.261 / 0.305
15   42   Alex RINS   SPA   Team SUZUKI ECSTAR   Suzuki   341.3   1'56.249   1.415 / 0.154
16   53   Tito RABAT   SPA   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   339.9   1'56.617   1.783 / 0.368
17   45   Scott REDDING   GBR   OCTO Pramac Racing   Ducati   342.7   1'56.662   1.828 / 0.045
18   43   Jack MILLER   AUS   EG 0,0 Marc VDS   Honda   341.7   1'56.692   1.858 / 0.030
19   22   Sam LOWES   GBR   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia   336.3   1'56.854   2.020 / 0.162
20   76   Loris BAZ   FRA   Reale Avintia Racing   Ducati   338.3   1'56.935   2.101 / 0.081
21   8   Hector BARBERA   SPA   Reale Avintia Racing   Ducati   345.8   1'57.005   2.171 / 0.070
22   44   Pol ESPARGARO   SPA   Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   KTM   340.1   1'57.630   2.796 / 0.625
23   38   Bradley SMITH   GBR   Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   KTM   336.8   1'57.654   2.820 / 0.024

[duccarlos]

Jorghey missed Q2!

Demented Joseph pulled a lap out of his ass going from 17th to 2nd right before the checkered flag came out.

Zarco not only straight to Q2, but in 3rd place!

If this season is anything like the FPs in Qatar, it will not be for the faint of heart. At the end of the day, race distance pace is still Maverick and MM.

[koko64]

VR 13th too. Wow.