The final winter test ahead of the 2016 Moto2 season began in Qatar and after the three hour long sessions Spanish rider Alex Rins was fastest overall.
The Moto3 class were first to take to the track on day one which meant that the track was slightly cleaner for the first run of the day from the Moto2 class. British rider Sam Lowes started off strong on his Federal Oil Gresini Moto2. Lowes was fastest in the first two sessions lapping with a low 2:00 minutes with his fastest time in session three of 2:00.084 left him second overall.
It was Spanish rider Alex Lowes who was fastest on the day with his time of 2.00.071 just beating Lowes to leave him top. The Paginas Amarillas HP 40 rider started off slower ending up in fourteenth after session one, by session two he shaved two seconds off his time before removing another 0.3 seconds in time to lap fastest overall.
Third overall was Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami for IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia who despite crashing on day one was a strong third position having finished within the top six all day with his fastest time of 2:00.131 in session three.
Twitter: P3! First crash of the season but happy for first day of the results! Sorry guys for the extra job but thanks team
https://t.co/g4cNUTryFw (@takanakagami30)
New to the Dynavolt Intact Moto GP team this season, German rider Jonas Folger finished fourth on day one after remaining in the top four, after all, three sessions. His fastest time of each session was consistently in the low 2:00 minutes and he finished with a time of 2:00.266. His teammate Sandro Cortese was just under 1.5 seconds slower finishing in sixteenth.
Johann Zarco who rides aboard the Ajo Motorsport Kalex finished in fifth, ahead of Thomas Luthi on his Garage Plus Interwetten Kalex who was strong previously on day one in Jerez, Franco Morbidelli who was the top Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS and AGR Team rider Marcel Schrotter. Speed Up Racing Team rider Simone Corsi was the fastest Speed Up bike finishing in ninth with a time of 2:00.928, the next fastest Speed Up rider was QMMF Racing Team rider Julian Simon who finished in twelfth just under 0.2 seconds behind.
British rider Danny Kent is debuting in his first Moto2 season this year with the expanding Leopard Racing Team. After winning the Moto3 Championship last season he was promoted to the Moto2 class with his team and finished tenth on day one just under a second off the pace with a time of 200.987; he was the last rider finishing within one second of leader Rins.
The fastest Tech 3 rider was Spain’s Xavi Vierge in twenty-second almost two seconds off the leader, and the only Suter in the class Efren Vazquez who rides for JP Moto Malaysia finished in twenty-ninth almost five seconds slower than Rins.
The Kalex riders have the opportunity at Qatar to test the new tank, radiator and updated frame. A new aerodynamics package is also available to the riders.
The Moto2 class will spend two more days under the floodlights at Qatar ahead of the season opener on March 20th, they will complete six more hour long sessions overcoming the difficult setting in the bid to be fastest ahead of qualifying at Losail International Circuit.
