2014 MotoGP season gets underway in Qatar
In the first Grand Prix practice session of the new ‘Open’ class era it was Espargaro in P1 with his Open entry Forward Yamaha with a 1’55.201 best lap, with Bautista 0.466s behind him. Espargaro’s pace was over 0.3s slower than he went in testing here two weeks ago.
At the start of his second season in MotoGP Smith was third by a 0.6s margin, with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) also in top five as the riders who tested in Qatar occupying the top end of the timesheet. The younger Espargaro brother appears to be riding smoothly despite his collarbone injury sustained ten days ago at this track.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were the quickest Factory riders in sixth and seventh, whilst the top ten was completed by Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing), Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar).
World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was 11th as he tested his fitness after breaking his right leg in preseason, whilst Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) finished 15th and went for a scan after walking away from a turn 16 crash which caused a brief red crash due to track debris.
Results
| Pos | Rider | Num. | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Aleix Espargaro | 41 | ESP | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | YAMAHA | 1'55.201 |
| 2 | Alvaro Bautista | 19 | ESP | Go & Fun Honda Gresini | HONDA | 1'55.667 |
| 3 | Bradley Smith | 38 | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | YAMAHA | 1'55.816 |
| 4 | Andrea Iannone | 29 | ITA | Pramac Racing | DUCATI | 1'55.996 |
| 5 | Pol Espargaro | 44 | ESP | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | YAMAHA | 1'56.020 |
| 6 | Dani Pedrosa | 26 | ESP | Repsol Honda Team | HONDA | 1'56.332 |
| 7 | Valentino Rossi | 46 | ITA | Yamaha Factory | YAMAHA | 1'56.542 |
| 8 | Colin Edwards | 5 | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | YAMAHA | 1'56.626 |
| 9 | Jorge Lorenzo | 99 | ESP | Yamaha Factory Racing | YAMAHA | 1'56.668 |
| 10 | Nicky Hayden | 69 | USA | Drive M7 Aspar | HONDA | 1'56.670 |
| 11 | Marc Marquez | 93 | ESP | Repsol Honda Team | HONDA | 1'56.682 |
| 12 | Stefan Bradl | 6 | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | HONDA | 1'56.726 |
| 13 | Cal Crutchlow | 35 | GBR | Ducati Team | DUCATI | 1'57.046 |
| 14 | Andrea Dovizioso | 4 | ITA | Ducati Team | DUCATI | 1'57.100 |
| 15 | Yonny Hernandez | 68 | COL | Pramac Racing | DUCATI | 1'57.623 |
| 16 | Karel Abraham | 17 | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | HONDA | 1'57.779 |
| 17 | Hiroshi Aoyama | 7 | JPN | Drive M7 Aspar | HONDA | 1'58.182 |
| 18 | Hector Barbera | 8 | ESP | Avintia Racing MotoGP | FTR-KAWASAKI | 1'58.394 |
| 19 | Scott Redding | 45 | GBR | Go & Fun Honda Gresini | HONDA | 1'58.495 |
| 20 | Mike Di Meglio | 63 | FRA | Avintia Racing MotoGP | FTR-KAWASAKI | 1'58.732 |
| 21 | Danilo Petrucci | 9 | ITA | IodaRacing Project | IODA-SUTER | 1'59.321 |
| 22 | Broc Parkes | 23 | AUS | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM | 1'59.328 |
| 23 | Michael Laverty | 70 | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART & PBM | No Time Set |