DOHA (Qatar): Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) topped the chart after the end of Free Practice 1 at the Tissot Grand Prix of Doha here at the Losail Circuit Sports Club on Friday.
Espargaro set a lap time of 1:54.779, which was just 0.060s better than Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and World Championship leader Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP).
The FP2 will start at 8pm (local time).
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) machine suffered a mechanical issue just 10 minutes into the weekend, which forced the Italian to head back to pitlane on the service road and hop out on his second bike.
Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), podium finisher in the opening race last weekend, crashed unhurt at Turn 15 in a dramatic start to proceedings.
With 10 minutes to go, Morbidelli then went fastest but encountered same problem after his bike started spitting smoke and he was forced to pull off the circuit for a second time. (Source: MotoGP)
Top 10:
1. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) – 1:54.779
2. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.060
3. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.085
4. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) + 0.240
5. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.346
6. Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) + 0.484
7. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.524
8. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.570
9. Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.614
10. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.669
