Rain washes out MotoGP qualifying in Qatar Saturday (Update)

Rain washes out qualifying

UPDATE After overnight rain, a storm and too much standing water on track at Losail International Circuit, the original timetable for Saturday at the #QatarGP saw some adjustments before the decision was taken by Race Direction to cancel track action for the day.

Track conditions were deemed too dangerous to enable riders to get out on track – and with little chance of improvement as rain and lightning began again.

So it’s combined times after the end of FP3 that will decide the grid ahead of Sunday.

Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) will start from his first pole for Yamaha. Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone and reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) join him on the front row.

The second row is: Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), and Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Racing) in sixth.

The third row – so from P7 to P9 – is Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), Jonas Folger (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda).

Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) heads up Row 4 in tenth, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing). Jorge Lorenzo is in 12th on his debut with the Ducati Team.

For full combined timings after FP3 follow.

Pos	No./Rider	Bike	FP1	FP2	FP3	Behind	Gap
1	25 M.VINALES	YAMAHA	1'54.316	1'55.378	1'54.834	0.000	0.000
2	29 A.IANNONE	SUZUKI	1'56.027	1'56.069	1'54.848	0.532	0.532
3	93 M.MARQUEZ	HONDA	1'54.912	1'55.698	1'55.296	0.596	0.064
4	5 J.ZARCO	YAMAHA	1'55.792	1'55.316	1'55.008	0.692	0.096
5	4 A.DOVIZIOSO	DUCATI	1'55.873	1'55.185	1'55.042	0.726	0.034
6	45 S.REDDING	DUCATI	1'56.000	1'55.085	1'56.662	0.769	0.043
7	26 D.PEDROSA	HONDA	1'55.210	1'56.530	1'55.113	0.797	0.028
8	94 J.FOLGER	YAMAHA	1'55.587	1'55.208	1'55.713	0.892	0.095
9	35 C.CRUTCHLOW	HONDA	1'55.639	1'55.828	1'55.211	0.895	0.003
10	46 V.ROSSI	YAMAHA	1'55.799	1'55.414	1'55.790	1.098	0.203
11	9 D.PETRUCCI	DUCATI	1'56.419	1'55.760	1'55.435	1.119	0.021
12	99 J.LORENZO	DUCATI	1'55.607	1'55.604	1'55.461	1.145	0.026
13	19 A.BAUTISTA	DUCATI	1'56.128	1'55.581	1'55.676	1.265	0.120
14	76 L.BAZ	DUCATI	1'55.624	1'56.501	1'56.935	1.308	0.043
15	41 A.ESPARGARO	APRILIA	1'55.872	1'55.750	1'55.634	1.318	0.010
16	43 J.MILLER	HONDA	1'56.453	–	1'56.692	1.643	0.325
17	17 K.ABRAHAM	DUCATI	1'56.399	–	1'56.095	1.687	0.044
18	42 A.RINS	SUZUKI	1'56.502	–	1'56.249	1.863	0.176
19	53 T.RABAT	HONDA	1'56.725	–	1'56.617	2.052	0.189
20	8 H.BARBERA	DUCATI	1'56.725	1'56.934	1'57.005	2.409	0.357
21	22 S.LOWES	APRILIA	1'57.887	1'57.517	1'56.854	2.538	0.129
22	44 P.ESPARGARO	KTM	1'57.630	1'57.116	1'57.630	2.800	0.262
23	38 B.SMITH	KTM	1'58.114	1'58.020	1'57.654	3.338	0.538

Grid positions based on combined FP time

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	VINALES Maverick	25	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing Team	Yamaha	1'54.316
2	IANNONE Andrea	29	ITA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.532
3	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.596
4	ZARCO Johann	5	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	0.692
5	DOVIZIOSO Andrea	4	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	0.726
6	REDDING Scott	45	GBR	Octo Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.769
7	PEDROSA Dani	26	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.797
8	FOLGER Jonas	94	GER	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	0.892
9	CRUTCHLOW Cal	35	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	0.895
10	ROSSI Valentino	46	ITA	Yamaha Factory Racing Team	Yamaha	1.098
11	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	ITA	Octo Pramac Racing	Ducati	1.119
12	LORENZO Jorge	99	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1.145
13	BAUTISTA Alvaro	19	SPA	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1.265
14	BAZ Loris	76	FRA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1.308
15	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1.318
16	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1.643
17	ABRAHAM Karel	17	CZE	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1.687
18	RINS Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	1.863
19	RABAT Tito	53	SPA	Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	2.052
20	BARBERA Hector	8	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	2.409
21	LOWES Sam	22	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	2.538
22	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	2.800
23	SMITH Bradley	38	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	3.338

03/25/17 Due to unusual weather conditions, a new provisional schedule was announced for MotoGP qualifying in Qatar.

The schedule for Saturday 25th March should be as follows, with an additional Free Practice session at 18.00 LT for the MotoGP class.

The MotoGP Extra Free Practice session will allow riders to assess the track conditions and will be followed by a Safety Commission meeting.

17:00-17:10 Track Inspection
18:00-18:20 MotoGP Extra Free Practice
18:55-19:40 Moto2 QP
19:55-20:25 MotoGP FP4
20:35-20:50 MotoGP Q1
21:00-21:15 MotoGP Q2
21:30-22.10 Moto3 QP