Marc Marquez suffers bike issue in Qatar MotoGP Practice, Di Giannantonio fastest
Fabio Di Giannantonio set a new lap record to lead Practice at the Qatar Grand Prix
VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio posted a new lap record to lead Practice at the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix, as Marc Marquez suffered a technical issue.
Di Giannantonio scored his first grand prix victory in Qatar in 2023 when he was a Gresini rider, and looks like he’ll be a threat for a repeat this weekend.
Despite battling a power deficit on his GP26, Di Giannantonio found a new lap record of 1m50.406s to lead Practice by 0.142s.
He headed championship leader Marc Marquez, whose session was interrupted by a rare technical issue on his factory Ducati.
The 33-year-old lost the chain on one of his GP26s, which broke some of the aero on the rear wheel.
Marco Bezzecchi completed the top three on the first of the Aprilias, while Jorge Martin made it into Q2 in seventh.
Bezzecchi led the way after 10 minutes of running on a 1m51.807s, which he improved to a 1m51.182s on a fresh soft rear tyre with just over half an hour to go.
Di Giannantonio, also on a new soft rear, went slightly fastest moments later on a 1m51.104s, as Marquez was forced to check up on a flying lap when the chain on his bike broke off on his way into the final corner.
Marquez didn’t lose much time to the issue and quickly rejoined the session on his second bike.
With just under 15 minutes to go, Marquez shot to the top of the order with a 1m50.925s on a new soft rear tyre.
But he wouldn’t stay top of the pile for long, as Bezzecchi found a 1m50.694s, before Di Giannantonio produced his session-topping 1m50.406s.
Marquez found a 1m50.548s on his final lap, with Bezzecchi third on a 1m50.666s.
Pecco Bagnaia eased through to Q2 for just the second time this side of the summer break, as the Ducati rider finished fourth ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez.
Enea Bastianini was the leading KTM in sixth for Tech3, as Martin ended the night seventh from LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco.
Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Brad Binder (KTM) rounded out the top 10.
The big shock of the session came from Pedro Acosta, who failed to make it directly into Q2 on his KTM.
He was 14th and 1.169s off the pace.
