Qatar – EL1: Marc Marquez untouchable, Jorge Martin in difficulty

• Le MotoGP is now stopping off in Qatar for the fourth round of the 2025 season. The weekend begins under clear skies with Free Practice 1.
• From the start of the session, Johann Zarco attracted attention when his bike suddenly stopped at Turn 1. The Frenchman was fortunately close to the pit lane. At the same time, Jorge Martin was completing his first laps of the season. At his own pace, the Spaniard continued his discovery of the Aprilia, with timed laps that unsurprisingly placed him at the bottom of the standings.
• In terms of time trial, Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez are back at the forefront. Eager to redeem himself after his crash in Austin, the elder brother takes the lead with a lap of 1:53.144. Alex is close behind, lapping less than two tenths of a second behind, slightly faster than Pecco Bagnaia.
• Shortly after the halfway point, the number 93 added another, with a time of 1:52.388. Behind him, however, things changed very little.
• In the final minutes of this Free Practice 1 session in Qatar, the multiple world champion was once again the only one to improve. He knocked a tenth off the benchmark he had set earlier. The final attempts of a few drivers were hampered by yellow flags caused by Jack Miller's crash.
• Despite everything, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pecco Bagnaia managed to get the better of Alex Marquez.
• The KTMs are out in force at the start of the weekend. Whether from Tech3 or the official team, each of the factory representatives posted interesting times. In total, two of the four RC2s finished in the top 4. Maverick Vinales was the first of them, with the Spaniard taking an encouraging fifth place. The team spent most of the session searching for answers to its questions, as evidenced by the four different configurations each of the brand's riders rode.
• After the incident at the start of the session, Johann Zarco returned to the track and set the 14th fastest time. fabio quartararo, for his part, spent most of FP1 in the top 10, before falling to 11th place.
• For his return to competition, Jorge Martin finished the session in 20th place, more than two seconds behind the leaders. As expected, the reigning world champion's start to the season is shaping up to be a difficult one.

MotoGP Qatar – FP1 standings:

Ranking : MotoTiming