2022 Qatar MotoGP, Lusail International Circuit - Friday Free Practice LIVE!
The 2022 MotoGP World Championship gets underway at its traditional season opener venue the Lusail International Circuit, Qatar.
Current world champion Fabio Quartararo will be looking to get his title defence off to a similar start as 2021 when he won the second of two races in Qatar.
The Qatar MotoGP will mark the start of a first premier class season without nine-time world champion and legend Valentino Rossi since 2000.
Looking to tie Rossi with nine world championships in 2022 will be Marc Marquez, who with an improved Honda RC213V if testing is anything to go off and being back to full fitness, is expected to be a contender for victory at this weekend’s opening round.
Qatar has not been a particularly happy hunting ground for Marquez as he’s won just once (2014) in his seven MotoGP appearances. However, Marquez has also missed the last three races at Lusail, meaning the 2022 Qatar MotoGP will be his first since 2019.
One of the favourites not just for this weekend’s race, but the championship, Francesco Bagnaia will be looking to build on a somewhat quiet pre-season for Ducati.
Bagnaia heads into the opening round as the most in-form rider from the end of last season as he claimed four wins from the last six races, including wins at the final two rounds in Portimao and Valencia.
While all six factory teams have unchanged line-ups in regards to how the 2021 campaign ended, Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha Team) will be racing in the first race of what should be a full season for their respective teams following late-season switches at Aragon and Misano.
Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini arrive at Qatar as the pre-season pacesetters - Bastianini set a new unofficial lap record at Sepang aboard his Desmosedici GP21 bike to finish quickest from Aleix Espargaro, while Pol finished a slender -0.014s ahead of Quartararo in Mandalika.
Five rookies will be getting their MotoGP careers underway as Moto2 World Champion Remy Gardner, Tech 3 KTM team-mate Raul Fernandez, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) and Darryn Binder (RNF Yamaha) will all be in action this weekend.
