Today was the fastest qualifying ever at Losail!
Barwa Grand Prix of Qatar is on!
Lap time records were broken left and right and the tarmac was burning.
The pressure is on as the slightest mistake will pay its tribute and can change everything during the race tomorrow.
The bikes are top notch and all are rather close together.
The Holeshot Device ergo Ride Height Device first introduced by Ducati might be a game changer too. It is pushing the rear down and improves the lap times.
Pole position holds Francesco (Pecco) Bagnaia (63) with the Ducati Lenovo Team and the fastest lap time ever of 1'52.772.
Followed by Fabio Quartararo (20) with Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP and a fantastic time of 1'53.038, a small gap of 0.266 / 0.266 to Bagnaia.
In the last qualifying lap Maverick Viñales (12) Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP managed to push Valentino Rossi (46) from the first row with a time of 1'53.088 and a gap of 0.316 / 0.050.
Valentino Rossi (46), this year with Petronas Yamaha SRT will now start from the second row and place 4 with a qualifying time of 1'53.114 and a gap of 0.342 / 0.026. Still a great thing!
Gotta have our favorite in the picture lol.
In the end it was a fantastic qualification for Rossi. He is starting as an independent private rider for the Malaysian team Petronas Yamaha SRT this year.
Joy is my little MotoGP superstar lol. He is rather annoyed cause mommy is not paying attention to him ;).
Here are the Sector times after the qualifying.
Ducati is going to be fierce tomorrow and Yamaha needs to step up the game in order to have an advantage to the fast Ducati.
They have to get in front from the beginning in order to hold the pace on the straights where the Ducati power will play out.
And Pecco Bagnaia knows his game, even though he still is a rookie in the MotoGP but won the Moto2 championship already.
All in all it is going to be an exciting race tomorrow and with Marc Marquez (93) not participating everything can happen.
Well how Marquez will do once he enters the competition again is a big question anyway. He was injured for a long time and missed an entire season last year.
That gave all the other drivers in the field time to take a breath and gain confidence.
And the rookies this year will not have as much respect as he'd like. The next generation scratches their hooves.
That is the excitement of MotoGP, even after a qualifying, you never know what happens on the race day and things can change quickly.
To make a prediction is possible but too often it was a whole different story in the end.
Looking forward to tomorrow :)
Tomorrows starting grid:
1 63 F. Bagnaia Ducati
2 20 F. Quartararo Yamaha
3 12 M. Vinales Yamaha
4 46 V. Rossi Yamaha
5 43 J. Miller Ducati
6 5 J. Zarco Ducati
7 21 F. Morbidelli Yamaha
8 41 A. Espargaro Aprilia
9 42 A. Rins Suzuki
10 36 J. Mir Suzuki
11 30 T. Nakagami Honda
12 44 P. Espargaro Honda
13 23 E. Bastianini Ducati
14 89 J. Martin Ducati
15 88 M. Oliveira KTM
16 73 A. Marquez Honda
17 6 S. Bradl Honda
18 10 L. Marini Ducati
19 33 B. Binder KTM
20 9 D. Petrucci KTM
21 27 I. Lecuona KTM
22 32 L. Savadori Aprilia
Last but not least a little goodie, a Qatar throwback brought to you by MotoGP.
Feel the excitement!
