MotoGP: Miller leads Ducati 1-2-3 in Doha

Friday practice at the Tissot Grand Prix of Doha saw Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team – shown above) fastest with a time of 1:53.145. The Australian sits 0.313s clear of factory teammate Francesco Bagnaia heading into Saturday as the Ducatis dominated proceedings.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) was P3 with his rookie teammate Jorge Martin claiming P5, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) split them in P4.

The final flying laps saw plenty of movement. Bagnaia, Zarco and Martin propelled themselves into the top five as the two Qatar podium finishers also avoid the yellow flags, this time for an Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) crash at the final corner. Further back on the road, it was a huge last lap for both World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT). Both needed to find time to break into the top 10, both failed to find enough.

There are no such troubles for Ducati’s four GP21 riders though. A dominant Friday evening at the office for the Bologna brand, with Quartararo sneaking ahead of Martin by just 0.010s. FP1 pacesetter Aleix Espargaro didn’t bother heading out for a final time attack, and he didn’t need to either.

His earlier time was plenty good enough to see him and Aprilia sail into Saturday inside the top 10 in P6, with Morbidelli enjoying a better evening to end up P7 – no issues for the Italian in FP2. 0.014s behind the Yamaha rider is Rins, the top eight covered by half a second, with World Championship leader Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) only just squeezing into the top 10 in P9. Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) continues to do a fine job as Marc Marquez’s replacement, the German is P10 after Friday and looks like heading straight into Q2.

With Saturday afternoon conditions more than likely not allowing the riders to go quicker than FP2, it looks like the automatic Q2 places are set. 1.092s covers the leading 18 riders, and some big names are going to be very disappointed come Saturday evening.

Doha GP Combined Free Practice Times

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	Miller Jack	43	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1’53.145
2	Bagnaia Francesco	63	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	0.313
3	Zarco Johann	5	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.392
4	Quartararo Fabio	20	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.438
5	Martin Jorge	89	SPA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.448
6	Espargaro Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	0.501
7	Morbidelli Franco	21	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	0.554
8	Rins Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.568
9	Vinales Maverick	12	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.727
10	Bradl Stefan	6	GER	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.769
11	Oliveira Miguel	88	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.799
12	Petrucci Danilo	9	ITA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.824
13	Mir Joan	36	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.867
14	Rossi Valentino	46	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	0.967
15	Nakagami Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	Honda	0.982
16	Marquez Alex	73	SPA	LCR Honda	Honda	1.003
17	Espargaro Pol	44	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1.060
18	Binder Brad	33	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1.092
19	Bastianini Enea	23	ITA	Avintia Esponsorama	Ducati	1.371
20	Marini Luca	10	ITA	SKY VR46 Avintia	Ducati	1.535
21	Savadori Lorenzo	32	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1.826
22	Lecuona Iker	27	SPA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	2.224