Qatar MotoGP: Rossi leads Lorenzo in first practice

Reigning champion Marquez led the majority of the 45-minute daylight session after establishing an early benchmark of 1m55.164s, which stood until the closing moments.

In his first official practice session as a Repsol Honda rider, Lorenzo managed to beat Marquez with a 1m55.217s to briefly go top of the order with two minutes left on the clock.

However, with around 10 seconds left before the chequered flag fell, Rossi logged a 1m55.048s to beat Lorenzo by 0.079s and Marquez by 0.116s.

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso was fourth-fastest, just 0.169s shy of compatriot Rossi, while his new teammate Danilo Petrucci was exactly half a tenth slower in fifth.

Maverick Vinales ended up sixth-fastest on the second of the Yamahas, 0.276s slower than teammate Rossi.

Franco Morbidelli was top independent rider in eighth for Petronas SRT Yamaha, followed by Jack Miller on the Pramac Ducati, Suzuki's Alex Rins and the top LCR Honda of Takaaki Nakagami.

Fabio Quartararo (Petronas) was the best of the rookies in 11th, less than half a second off the pace.

Pol Espargaro led KTM's efforts in 12th, a place ahead of elder brother Aleix on the Aprilia and seven slots ahead of teammate Johann Zarco in 19th.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR) was the 17th and final rider to lap within a second of Rossi.

Tech 3 KTM rider Hafizh Syahrin became the first crasher of the 2019 campaign early in the session, and ended up 22nd, ahead of only Aprilia test rider Bradley Smith.

​FP1 times:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'55.048
2	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	1'55.127	0.079
3	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'55.164	0.116
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'55.217	0.169
5	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'55.267	0.219
6	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'55.312	0.264
7	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1'55.324	0.276
8	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'55.396	0.348
9	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'55.409	0.361
10	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1'55.496	0.448
11	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1'55.509	0.461
12	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'55.620	0.572
13	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'55.778	0.730
14	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'55.828	0.780
15	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	1'55.828	0.780
16	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'55.835	0.787
17	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'55.869	0.821
18	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1'56.061	1.013
19	5	Johann Zarco	KTM	1'56.206	1.158
20	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'56.249	1.201
21	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1'56.289	1.241
22	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	1'57.181	2.133
23	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	1'57.189	2.141