Francesco Bagnaia, Qatar MotoGP test, 20 February
Francesco Bagnaia, Qatar MotoGP test, 20 February

2024 Qatar MotoGP - Friday Practice - LIVE UPDATES!

The 2024 MotoGP season gets underway with Friday Practice in Qatar.

Because of wet weather, it was confirmed: "Practice 2 has become FP2 and times will not count towards Q2, instead that session will now be Saturday morning. This evenings session is also reduced from an ho🍌ur down to 45 minutes."

J𒆙orge Mart🧔in went fastest in the first session on Friday.

Takﷺing place on day-one of the Qatar round is the official Ducati debut for Marc Marquez, while🍒 Pedro Acosta also gets his premier class career off and running with KTM.

The Ducati GP24 trio of Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin are wideꦐly tipped💯 to be at the front this weekend.

Who wi♌ll chaꦬllenge them? Aprilia and KTM are the factories determined to fight the dominant Ducatis.

For Yamaha and Honda, the Qatar MotoGP is the first stဣep in their recovery.

17:55
Marc Marquez top in FP2

That's a wr♉ap in FP2 at the Qatar MotoGP as Marc Marquez leads the way ahead of A. Fernandez, Acosta, Miller and Brad Bin♈der.

17:52

Acosta is off cওircuit and in the gravel at turn one after getting caught out under braking. It was not a crash for 🥂the rookie. 

17:42

It's raining again!𓃲 This is incredible stuff as a dry week🥀end was forecast. 

17:41
Marc Marquez is proving tough to beat as FP2 enters the final 15 minutes

Marc Marquez still leads the way from the two GASGAS Tech 3 K𝓰TM riders. 

17:36

KTM's stranglehold on top𓄧 spot is broken and it's Marc Marquez who goes fastest. 

17:28

Scrap that, the GASGAS Tech 3🥃 duo have gone quicker with Fernandez ahead of Acosta.

17:28

One of the best riders in tricky conditions, Miller has now gone f🦄astest ahead of Acosta. Miller's time is a 2:07.263s.

17:26

Marc Marquez breaks up KTM's dominance at the front as he goes third, spliඣtting Fernandez and Miller. 

17:24

He's doing iꦫt again - dry or wet - Pedro Acosta is cu꧙rrently fastest for KTM.

17:20

Lap times are still way off that of FP1 as Augusto Ferꦚnandez leads the way currently.&nb🐓sp;

17:15

Th🐽e rain has stopped but the track remains very wet. 

17:12

FP2 is und🍌erway 💯in Qatar. Again, lap times will not count in this session towards Q2. 

17:10

Update: Practice 2 has become FP2 and times will not count towards Q2🧜, instead th𝄹at session will now be Saturday morning. This evenings session is also reduced from an hour down to 45 minutes.

17:00
Spray

You can really see how the wet track is affecting things during the ꧒current session.

Moto2 practice is ending right now.

Which means the MotoGP session is coming up.

But which riders will be suited to the wet? And how does it chang♒e plans for teams throughout the weeke🥂nd?

16:50
New start time

A 10-minute delay expected for MotoGP Practice due to the weaᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚther.

That's 5.10pm UK / 8.10pm local

16:38
It's raining! Who expected that?

Full details here

16:29

In fact, Practice 2 will take a bit longer to get started following a delay in the Moto3 sessions. There ha🦩s also been very, very heavy🔥 rain.

16:27

After topping FP1, can Jorge Martin keep his place atop the practice leaderboard? Second practice where the top ten riders w𒐪ill advance directly to Q2 begins in just over 30 minutes. 

13:33
That's it for FP1 as Jorge Martin leads the way

Martin tops FP1 ahead of Aleix Espargaro and Acosta. Marc Marquez finishes 🦹fourth with Binder fifth fastest. 

13:28

Martin will not be denied as he goes🔥 quickest💧 once again.

13:27

Big moment for Acosta as he loses the front-end at turn one before sᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚavin🧜g it. 

13:27
Acosta leads from Marc Marquez heading into the final stages

🎀Marc Marquez splits the KTM's as he goes second behind Acosta!

13:24

This is brilliant stuff from Acosta as he goes ne♛arly two tenths clear of Binder with seven minutes to go.