Jorge Martin, the runner-up of the MotoGP 2023, took the lead in the early training session of the 2024 season of the championship in Qatar. However, it was rookie Pedro Acosta who stole the spotlight. The young Spanish rider, who has already had success in Moto2 and Moto3, had a consistent performance throughout the session and briefly took the lead in the final minutes before dropping to third place. TV cameras captured Acosta’s impressive bike control as he skillfully avoided several potential accidents, including a particularly daring slide in Turn 1.
The track conditions for the first training session were likely less dusty than usual due to the MotoGP pre-season tests and the opening of the Endurance World Championship that took place at the same venue in the previous weeks. Martin ended up leading the session with a lap time of 1m52.624s. Aleix Espargaro, from Aprilia, was his closest competitor, just half a second behind and surpassing Acosta by a quarter of a second.
In a notable change, Marc Marquez, who is no longer racing for Honda, rode his Gresini team Ducati to a respectable fourth place. This resulted in a fully Spanish top four, with the riders separated by just 0.177s. Brad Binder, representing KTM, was right behind, while Johann Zarco, the new addition to LCR Honda, impressed with a late surge to claim sixth place, becoming the highest-ranked Honda RC213V rider.
Enea Bastianini, pilotando para Ducati, lideró una parte significativa de la sesión, pero terminó contentándose con el séptimo lugar. Fabio Di Giannantonio, quien recientemente se unió a Ducati VR46, y Jack Miller, de KTM, completaron el top diez. El campeón reinante Pecco Bagnaia, también de Ducati, tuvo dificultades durante la mayor parte de la sesión, pero logró mejorar su posición y terminar en décimo lugar.
Trackhouse, el nuevo equipo en MotoGP que reemplazó a RNF como equipo satélite de Aprilia, mostró un rendimiento sólido, con Miguel Oliveira terminando en el 12º lugar en la Aprilia RS-GP 2024 y Raúl Fernández asegurando el 14º lugar en la RS-GP 2023. La única fabricante no representada en el top diez fue Yamaha, con Alex Rins como su piloto líder en el 15º lugar.
Franco Morbidelli de Pramac Ducati, quien perdió toda la pretemporada, hizo su primera aparición en una moto Ducati de MotoGP desde el test de Valencia del año pasado. Terminó en el 22º y último lugar, 2.1 segundos detrás del líder.
