Marc Marquez resumed normal service in the opening free practice session of the 2015 MotoGP season, leading an impressive Repsol Honda 1-2 at Losail. The reigning champion set his quickest lap shortly before the halfway mark and was never challenged from there with Aleix Espargaro leading the chasing pack aboard the returning Suzuki.
Not known for his speedy starts to a Grand Prix weekend, Dani Pedrosa surprised many with his early pace, clocking a 1:55.357 on his third lap of the evening. The only rider to get anywhere near the no.26 Repsol Honda was Marquez on the sister bike with the younger Spaniard finally edging ahead on his fifth lap on a 1:55.281.
Jorge Lorenzo was the chief rival to the Honda pair through much of the session but the Yamaha rider was usurped by the Suzuki of Espargaro three minutes from the end, Aleix making good use of the softer tyre available to the new entrants. Lorenzo held onto fourth with Cal Crutchlow making a positive start to life at LCR Honda in fifth.
Before a wheel was turned, the buzz in the paddock surrounded the Ducati squad but surprisingly, the quickest Desmosedici came from the Pramac team with Danilo Petrucci taking his 2014 machine to sixth spot on soft tyres, fractionally quicker than Andrea Dovizioso’s GP15. Yonny Hernandez also used softer rubber to take eighth ahead of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Iannone while British pair Scott Redding and Bradley Smith finished marginally outside the top ten in 12th and 13th respectively.
2015 Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar: Free Practice 1 Classification
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