Marc Márquez breaks circuit record on first day at Losail

The reigning MotoGP World Champion, who was third in FP1, improved his time by almost two seconds in FP2 and was the quickest rider of the evening.

Marquez set a 1:53.380 time, the fastest lap ever at the Losail International Circuit and 3 tenths under the previous circuit record.

Jorge Lorenzo came close to topping the timesheets in FP1, and was just 0.079s slower than Valentino Rossi.

In FP2, he took 7 tenths of a second off his previous best, to place eleventh on the combined timesheets.

MotoGP

2 hours ago

GP Qatar 2019 FP1 – Marc Márquez & Jorge Lorenzo’s statements

#MM93

It was a really positive day! I was focusing a lot to go directly to QP2 and yes, the lap was fast but the most important thing is our rhythm. We still need to work a little bit on this but we’re finding our way and happy with how today ended. Normally we struggle a lot at this circuit but we are there more or less. It’s free practice, Sunday is still the most important part of the weekend.

#JL99

I am very happy today, very confident and comfortable with the bike. We have a lot of potential and working well and I believe we can arrive there. It’s a good sign, as was the ‘morning’, we were very fast but still need to understand the bike a bit more in colder conditions. I have the feeling we can be very competitive with the right setting.