Jorge Martin, the runner-up of the 2023 MotoGP, took the lead in the opening session of the 2024 championship season in Qatar. However, it was rookie Pedro Acosta who stole the spotlight. The young Spaniard, who has already had success in Moto2 and Moto3, put in a consistent performance throughout the session and briefly held 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 at Turn 1.
The track conditions for the first practice 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. Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was his closest competitor, just half a second behind and edging out Acosta by a quarter of a tenth.
In a notable change, Marc Marquez, who is no longer racing for Honda, piloted his Gresini team Ducati to a respectable fourth place. This resulted in a top four completely Spanish, 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 secure sixth place, becoming the highest-ranked rider on the Honda RC213V.
Enea Bastianini, pilotant pour Ducati, a dirigé une partie significative de la session, mais a fini par se contenter de la septième place. Fabio Di Giannantonio, récemment arrivé chez Ducati VR46, et Jack Miller, de KTM, ont complété le top dix. Le champion en titre Pecco Bagnaia, également chez Ducati, a eu des difficultés pendant une grande partie de la session, mais a réussi à améliorer sa position et à terminer en dixième position.
Trackhouse, la nouvelle équipe en MotoGP qui a remplacé RNF en tant qu’équipe satellite d’Aprilia, a montré une performance solide, avec Miguel Oliveira terminant à la 12e place sur l’Aprilia RS-GP 2024 et Raul Fernandez assurant la 14e place sur la RS-GP 2023. La seule marque non représentée dans le top dix était Yamaha, avec Alex Rins comme pilote leader à la 15e place.
Franco Morbidelli de Pramac Ducati, qui a manqué toute la pré-saison, a fait sa première apparition sur une moto Ducati en MotoGP depuis les essais de Valence de l’année dernière. Il a terminé en 22e et dernière position, à 2,1 secondes du leader.
