MotoGP Round 1: Qatar Unfolds

It's word-eating time for me–In Qatar FP2, Andrea Iannone went to the top while yesterday's leader Lorenzo dropped to 9th and Marc Marquez, 8th yesterday, rose to second. And in FP3, Iannone remained on top with Lorenzo and Marquez close behind. All is pretty much back to "normal" as the fast guys, as usual, take the top places. But for the moment at least, it's a Ducati on top, rather than a Honda or Yamaha. In FP3, the 7 highest top speeds all belonged to Ducatis, with Lorenzo's Yamaha 19th fastest and Marquez's Honda 13th.

Valentino Rossi, 2nd in FP1, fell to 7th in FP2 and FP3. This is so often his way–others have described him as “a Sunday man” because of how often he becomes fast only in the race itself.

As Lorenzo predicted yesterday, the track is indeed “getting faster”–by 8/10 of a second. Despite the acres of artificial grass intended to slow the encroachment of sand onto the track, fine airborne dust takes time to be removed from the racing line.

Andrea Dovizioso, who spent so much of last year under a cloud, was an encouraging 4th in FP3. Maverick Vinales on Suzuki, just off the pace of the leaders, is among the distinguished top–five who have lapped under 1:55.

Why would Marquez say the Honda was not “right”? British journalist Neil Spalding reports that this year’s Honda engine revolves opposite to its wheels–like the engines of Yamaha, Ducati, and Suzuki. This, by canceling some of the wheels’ resistance to direction changing, makes a bike easier to roll over into a corner or to roll upright during exit.