The heavens opened at the end of the second Moto3 session at Round 1 of the season, prompting Race Direction to declare it ‘Free Practice 2’, with Marc Marquez setting the pace on his Gresini Racing Ducati.

However the starting order for qualifying will now be determined by the Saturday practice session which directly leads into Q1.

Race Director, Mike Webb announced just prior to the start of what became FP2, “The upcoming MotoGP session will now be a 45-minute Free Practice 2.

“Times will not count towards entry into Q2.

“The MotoGP Practice session will now be held on Saturday from 13:40 to 14:25 LT. It will be 45 minutes in duration.”

Under the new schedule, there will be just a 15-minute turnaround from ‘Practice’, as the semi-competitive practice session (ie that which determines Qualifying 1 starters) is known, into Q1.

FP2 was a historic occasion because, previously, rain meant cancellation of night-time sessions due to visibility concerns.

The Qatar Race had been moved to Monday in 2009 while qualifying was cancelled in 2017, but an experiment was held at the end of the 2018 Lusail test in which the hoses were turned on and riders sent out.

Nevertheless, Race Direction saw fit to alter the schedule for Round 1 of the 2024 season.

Marc Marquez set a 2:06.544s in the wet, in his first round on anything other than a Honda.

He was followed by the KTM/GasGas quartet, with Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GasGas) 0.290s adrift, from Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas), Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) at 0.719s away from top spot, and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM).

Fastest overall, though, is Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin courtesy of a 1:52.624s on his Pramac Racing Ducati in Free Practice 1.

He pipped Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro by 0.047s and rookie Acosta by 0.071s.

The latter has lived up to the hype thus far, including a Marc Marquez-style super-save at Turn 1 in FP1.

#93 himself was next-best in FP1, from Binder, Johann Zarco, Enea Bastianini, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Miller, and 2023 champion Francesco Bagnaia in 10th.

Qatar MotoGP Saturday schedule

Local time/UTC +3

Practice 13:40
Q1 14:40
Q2 15:05
Sprint 19:00