Unlike in previous years, there was no testing held on the Losail International Circuit ahead of this weekend’s season-opener.
And with FP1 being held in daylight, FP1 was largely an exercise in track cleaning – though lap times were fairly solid for the conditions.
There was early drama for RNF Racing rookie Darryn Binder – who makes his MotoGP debut straight from Moto3 this year – when the bellypan on his 2021-spec Yamaha broke and was dragging along the ground in the opening stages.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro led the early salvo of laps with a 1m56.225s, which he improved as the session clicked into the 10-minute mark with a 1m55.378s.
This would stand as the benchmark until the final eight minutes when 2020 world champion Joan Mir went to the top of the times on hard tyres with a 1m53.371s.
This would be surmounted by Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins a few minutes later, with the Spaniard electing to run fresh soft front and rear tyres.
The three-time MotoGP race winner…
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