Practice report
MotoGP Qatar GP
Qatar MotoGP: KTM's Binder tops first practice of 2022
KTM’s Brad Binder topped a tight first practice session for the 2022 MotoGP season at the Qatar Grand Prix, as 2021 runner-up Francesco Bagnaia crashed late on.
Lewis Duncan
Edited: Mar 4, 2022, 3:10 PM
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Unlike in previous years, there was no testing held on the Losail International Circuit ahead of this weekend’s season-opener.
And with FP1 being held in daylight, the session was largely an exercise in track cleaning – though lap times were fairly solid for the conditions.
There was early drama for RNF Racing rookie Darryn Binder – who makes his MotoGP debut straight from Moto3 this year – when the bellypan on his 2021-spec Yamaha broke and was dragging along the ground in the opening stages.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro led the early salvo of laps wth a 1m56.225s, which he improved as the session clicked into the 10-minute mark with a 1m55.378s.
This would stand as the benchmark until the final eight minutes when 2020 world champion Joan Mir went to the top of the times on hard tyres with a 1m53.371s.
This would be surmounted by Suzuki teammate Alex Rins a few minutes later, with the Spaniard electing to run fresh soft front and rear tyres.
The three-time MotoGP race winner went top with a 1m55.278s, which he improved by 0.001 seconds on his following tour.
But this would not stand as a number of riders fitted with fresh rubber – though only Rins remained on softs – with Honda’s Marc Marquez taking over top spot, before immediately being deposed by LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.
But top honours in FP1 went to KTM’s Binder, who ended the first 45-minute session of 2022 fastest with a 1m54.851s on a medium rear tyre – 0.056 seconds clear of Nakagami.
Rins completed the top three, while Pol Espargaro jumped ahead of teammate Marc Marquez on the factory Honda.
Top Yamaha rider was Franco Morbidelli in sixth with a 1m55.294s, while world champion teammate Fabio Quartararo was 11th – 0.749s off the pace.
Mir was seventh, with Aleix Espargaro, LCR’s Alex Marquez and the second factory team KTM of Miguel Oliveira completing the top 10.
Trailing Quartararo was Pramac’s Jorge Martin and the first of the factory team Ducatis of Jack Miller in 13th.
Ducati made the first bombshell announcement of 2022 when it was revealed on Thursday by Motorsport.com that its factory riders Miller and Bagnaia had gone back to an updated 2021 engine for the rest of the new campaign.
Earlier on Friday team boss Davide Tardozzi refuted claims that Bagnaia had discarded the 2022 engine, instead noting that the updated 2021-spec was simply better suited to his riding style.
Bagnaia suffered an odd front-end crash at the Turn 6 left-hander five minutes from the end, with the incident leaving him down in 18th behind Pramac’s Johann Zarco, RNF Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso and the Aprilia of Maverick Vinales.
Gresini rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio became the first crasher of 2022 when the Moto2 graduate fell at Turn 3 with 16 minutes remaining.
He was 22nd at the end of FP1, with reigning Moto2 world champion Remy Gardner fastest of the rookie crop in 19th on his Tech 3 KTM – 1.411s off the best pace.
He headed VR46 sophomore Luca Marini, with the rest of the rookies – Raul Fernandez, Di Giannantonio, Darryn Binder and Marco Bezzecchi – completing the 24-rider field.
FP1 results:
Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 33 Brad Binder
KTM 1'54.851 2 30 Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'54.907 0.056 3 42 Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'54.978 0.127 4 44 Pol Espargaro
Honda 1'55.126 0.275 5 93 Marc Marquez
Honda 1'55.137 0.286 6 21 Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'55.294 0.443 7 36 Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'55.371 0.520 8 41 Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'55.378 0.527 9 73 Alex Marquez
Honda 1'55.385 0.534 10 88 Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'55.470 0.619 11 20 Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'55.600 0.749 12 89 Jorge Martin
Ducati 1'55.688 0.837 13 43 Jack Miller
Ducati 1'55.745 0.894 14 23 Enea Bastianini
Ducati 1'55.768 0.917 15 12 Maverick Viñales
Aprilia 1'55.815 0.964 16 4 Andrea Dovizioso
Yamaha 1'55.895 1.044 17 5 Johann Zarco
Ducati 1'55.960 1.109 18 63 Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'56.112 1.261 19 87 Remy Gardner
KTM 1'56.262 1.411 20 10 Luca Marini
Ducati 1'56.540 1.689 21 25 Raúl Fernández
KTM 1'56.660 1.809 22 49 Fabio Di Giannantonio
Ducati 1'56.753 1.902 23 40 Darryn Binder
Yamaha 1'57.347 2.496 24 72 Marco Bezzecchi
Ducati 1'57.430 2.579 View full results
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