2021 Qatar MotoGP test times, Losail - Saturday (7pm)

Lap times as of 7pm during day one of the Official 2021 Qatar MotoGP Test, at Losail.

06 Mar 2021

Johann Zarco , Qatar MotoGP test, 6 March 2021
© Gold and Goose Photography

After Friday's Qatar Shakedown - featuring test riders, rookies and riders from Concession manufacturer Aprilia - the Official test, open to all riders, began at 2pm on Saturday.

With the Sepang test cancelled, today is the first time most riders have been on a MotoGP bike since the chequered flag waved at Portimao last November.

Joan Mir and Suzuki are starting their title defence, while Saturday marks the debut of Pol Espargaro at Repsol Honda and Danilo Petrucci at Tech3 KTM, who were the first full-time riders on track today.

Other riders changing teams but not machines include Fabio Quartararo at Monster Yamaha, Valentino Rossi at Petronas Yamaha, Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia at Ducati Team, Johann Zarco at Pramac Ducati, Alex Marquez at LCR Honda and Miguel Oliveira at Red Bull KTM.

The MotoGP regulars are joined by Factory test riders, including Shakedown pace setter Stefan Bradl (Honda) - also substituting for the injured Marc Marquez - new Yamaha signing Cal Crutchlow and 31-time MotoGP race winner Dani Pedrosa (KTM).

Crutchlow is sharing M1s with Yamaha's Japanese test riders Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Kohta Nozane. The three bikes, which appear to include both the 2019 (A-Spec) and 2020 (Factory-Spec) models, are labelled '#T1', '#T2' and '#T3'. Official timing only lists the bike, not the rider.

Testing takes place from 2pm to 9pm on Saturday and Sunday, followed by ten minutes reserved for practice starts, but conditions are again very blustery...

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2021 Qatar MotoGP test times - Saturday (7pm)
		Rider	Nat	Team	Time	Lap
1	^10	Johann Zarco	FRA	Pramac Ducati (GP21)	1m 55.163s	31/41
2	˅1	Aleix Espargaro	ITA	Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)	+0.096s	22/33
3	˅1	Stefan Bradl	GER	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+0.199s	20/31
4	^5	Jack Miller	AUS	Ducati Team (GP21)	+0.238s	28/32
5	^1	Maverick Viñales	SPA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+0.303s	22/25
6	^4	Franco Morbidelli	ITA	Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+0.388s	27/36
7	˅4	Fabio Quartararo	FRA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+0.544s	35/45
8	^4	Yamaha Test2	N/A	Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1)	+0.644s	15/20
9	˅5	Miguel Oliveira	POR	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+0.647s	29/36
10	˅5	Valentino Rossi	ITA	Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+0.700s	30/41
11	˅3	Pol Espargaro	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+0.715s	52/55
12	^3	Joan Mir	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+0.985s	22/22
13	˅6	Brad Binder	RSA	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+1.009s	28/34
14	=	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Ducati Team (GP21)	+1.023s	26/33
15	˅2	Takaaki Nakagami	JPN	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+1.229s	37/37
16	^2	Alex Marquez	SPA	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+1.270s	21/27
17	^11	Alex Rins	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+1.315s	15/18
18	^6	Enea Bastianini	ITA	Avintia Esponsorama (GP19)*	+1.430s	34/36
19	˅3	Iker Lecuona	SPA	KTM Tech3 (RC16)	+1.810s	27/41
20	^1	Jorge Martin	SPA	Pramac Ducati (GP21)*	+1.994s	21/23
21	˅4	Danilo Petrucci	ITA	KTM Tech3 (RC16)	+2.022s	37/43
22	˅3	Luca Marini	ITA	Sky VR46 Avintia (GP19)*	+2.172s	25/37
23	˅3	Sylvain Guintoli	FRA	Suzuki Test Rider (GSX-RR)	+2.394s	17/34
24	˅2	Lorenzo Savadori	ITA	Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)*	+2.449s	12/24
25	˅2	Dani Pedrosa	SPA	KTM Test Rider (RC16)	+2.454s	14/25
26	˅1	Michele Pirro	ITA	Ducati Test Rider (GP21)	+3.754s	16/16
27	˅1	Yamaha Test1	N/A	Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1)	+3.947s	15/15
28	˅1	Yamaha Test3	N/A	Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1)	+4.130s	10/13
29	=	Takuya Tsuda	JPN	Suzuki Test Rider (GSX-RR)	+4.530s	26/26

* Rookie

Key:
^X Rider is X positions higher than previous hour.
= Rider is same position as previous hour.
˅X Rider is X positions lower than previous hour.

2021 Qatar Shakedown Test:
Best lap:
Stefan Bradl GER Honda 1m 55.614s

Official Qatar MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 53.380s (2019)
Fastest race lap:
Jorge Lorenzo SPA Yamaha 1m 54.927s (2016)

By Peter McLaren