Jorge Martin tops the first MotoGP practice session in Qatar ahead of Aleix Espargaro and sensational rookie Pedro Acosta – Marc Marquez finishes fourth
Jorge Martin finished the first free practice session of the 2024 MotoGP season in Qatar with the fastest time. With a time of 1:52.624 minutes, the Pramac Ducati rider narrowly beat Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta (Tech3-GasGas) into second and third place.
The first MotoGP practice session took place in daylight. As is so often the case at the start of a season, the riders were mainly concerned with adapting to the track and conditions with their new bikes and fine-tuning their machines after the latest tests.
As a reminder: At the Qatar test in February, world champion Francesco Bagnaia was the fastest with a time of 1:50.952 minutes. The official track record is 1:51.762 minutes, set by Luca Marini last year.
The field was slow to approach these times in the first 45 minutes of practice. The gaps were close as usual. The top 10 were separated by just under six tenths. A total of 17 riders were within one second of each other, almost the entire field.
The session was dominated at the front by Ducati and KTM, who kept taking turns at the top. In the end, Martin had a narrow lead of 0.047 seconds. Espargaro pushed himself and his Aprilia into second place with a late time attack
You’ve got to be joking! @37_pedroacosta saves them both! ✅QatarGP pic.twitter.com/GDcWJOOGU3
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) March 8, 2024
A strong session was shown by MotoGP rookie Acosta, who was in the thick of things from the start and, in addition to some spectacular slides, also showed his first save a la Marc Marquez in turn 1. In the end, he finished in third place.
Gresini newcomer Marc Marquez finished fourth, just 0.177 seconds behind KTM rider Brad Binder in fifth. Johann Zarco saved Honda’s honor with a late surge to sixth place in the standings. The Frenchman was three tenths of a second off Martin’s best time in the session.
Enea Bastianini (Ducati), Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati), Jack Miller (KTM) and Bagnaia completed the top 10. The first Yamaha rider lined up with Alex Rins in 15th place, while his team-mate Fabio Quartararo was nineteenth.
The two Honda factory riders finished the session in 16th and 17th place, but both were still within a second of the top. Franco Morbidelli (Pramac-Ducati), who missed the tests in Sepang and Qatar due to a training injury, finished last, more than two seconds behind
