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Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) set a blistering pace in the second Free Practice session at the VisitQatar Grand Prix to lead the way on Friday, his 1:53.380 three tenths under the previous lap record as the Spaniard betters second place Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) by 0.474, with Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) completing the top three.

After the start was slightly delayed due to track conditions, it was a manic second session for the premier class as the time attacks came in, with the later time giving the riders the best chance to book an automatic Q2 place for Saturday's qualifying. It was Marquez who set the fastest lap of the weekend with just over five minutes of FP2 gone, setting the tone for the rest of the session.

Rookie Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was the first to put the soft-soft tire combination in and the 2017 Moto3™ World Champion set the timing screens alight to go over three-tenths clear of the field with just under 15 minutes to go.

Miller then took over at the top a couple of minutes later on board his GP19, before Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) produced the goods to fire himself to the summit – this coming after he had crashed at Turn 1 earlier in FP2, with his bike catching fire in the gravel. Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) then took over but shadowing Viñales, a prowling Marquez would have the last laugh to go 0.474 clear of the Yamaha rider to set a new outright lap record around the Losail International Circuit.

Viñales and Miller kept P2 and P3, with Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) 0.673 back in fourth. Rookie Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) had a great session, the Frenchman rounding out the top five to easily get himself a provisional Q2 place, with Dovi eventually settling for P6. Morbidelli ends Friday in seventh, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) jumping into the top ten on his final lap with a 1:54.320. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Mir sit P9 and P10 respectively after strong sessions.

There are some big names missing from the top ten, and as things stand will have to go through Q1 in order to fight for pole. Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) ends P11 after finishing P2 in FP1, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) sits just behind teammate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in P13 and P12 respectively, with FP1 leader Valentino Rossi’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) 1:55.048 only good enough for P16 at the end of the day - ‘The Doctor’ the only rider to not improve his time in FP2.

A belter of an FP2 session sets us up nicely for the first Saturday of the season. Will anyone be able to improve in FP3? Find out when the premier class head back out at 15:15 local time (GMT+3).

Moto2

Italian Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) leads the charge in an exceptionally tight Moto2 field at the close of day one at the VisitQatar Grand Prix, with three quarters of a second separating the top fifteen.

Despite the closeness of the laptimes from P1 down to P15, Baldassarri will go into tomorrow holding a quarter of a second advantage after setting a time of 1:58.635.

After topping this afternoon’s FP1 session, Dynavolt Intact GP’s Marcel Schrötter continued his impressive form by finishing second overall.

Australian Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) provisionally sat at the top of the timesheets in the closing stages with a 1:58.899, but eventually had to settle for third quickest ahead of Federal Oil Gresini's Sam Lowes, who recovered from an electrical problem that plagued his opening session.

Just 0.010 adrift of the Brit was Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who rounded out the top five. After crashing out of FP1, Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) ended up sixth quickest ahead of Italtrans Racing Team’s Andrea Locatelli and the first of the KTM machines, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder.

Spaniard Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was ninth with Moto2 debutant Enea Bastianni (Italtrans Racing Team) ending tenth quickest, just 0.476 off of top spot.

Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) set a time of 1:59.143 to sit just outside of the top ten. He was 0.039 ahead of Dutchman Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Dynavolt Intact GP's Tom Luthi, who had a monster highside out of Turn 7 later in the session.

The Swiss rider, despite crashing at speed, was able to rejoin and bring his Kalex back to the garage. Closing out the top 14 and provisionally holding the final confirmed spot in Q2 is current Moto3 World Champion, Jorge Martin aboard his Red Bull KTM Ajo machine.

American Racing KTM’s Iker Lecuona rejoined halfway through the session after crashing out of the earlier FP1 session with Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) the only other man to crash at the Losail International Circuit – rider ok.

The final free practice session for the Moto2 field gets underway at 12:20 local time (GMT +3) as the fight for the top 14 to secure a place in Q2 intensifies.

Moto3

Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) has blitzed the Moto3 field on Day 1 at the VisitQatar Grand Prix after becoming the only rider to go below the 2:05 barrier in FP2 – a 2:04.561 putting him 0.595 clear of FP1’s fastest man Romano Fenati (Snipers Team).

It was a record-breaking FP2 session as Canet’s time was well under the old lap record, with the Spaniard displaying some serious pace to put him nearly six tenths clear of the rest. Fenati was his closest challenger as the Italian continues his great comeback, with Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) recovering from an FP1 crash to end the day third fastest – 0.679 the gap to Canet.

Less than four-tenths separate fourth place Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) to 16th place John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing), with the pack looking tight if you discount Canet’s pace. Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3), less than a week after fracturing his collarbone in testing, finished Day 1 in Qatar in an incredible fifth place. He leads Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) by 0.090, the Czech rider sixth on the timesheets, with Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) a further 0.005 behind in seventh.

Tony Arbolino (Snipers Team) cements a top ten place on his final run to finish eighth on Day 1 with a 2:05.480, the Italian leading Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) and Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team) in ninth and tenth respectively.

Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) crashed late on at Turn 16 – rider ok.

The top 14 from FP2 are currently provisionally heading into an automatic Q2 place, with FP3 still to come tomorrow. Tune in at 13:25 local time (GMT+3) to find out if anyone can top Canet ahead of qualifying, with Moto3™ and Moto2™ adopting the Q1, Q2 format for the first time in 2019.