Marquez Tops Qatar FP1 as Title Weekend Begins Under the Lights

The floodlights were barely warm and Marc Marquez was already fastest. A 1:52.278 on well-used medium rubber put the championship leader at the top of the timesheets in the opening practice session of the Qatar Grand Prix, the first session of a weekend in which he can seal an eighth premier-class world title. It was not a cruise. Marco Bezzecchi, the man closest to Marquez in the chasing pack, kept trading the top spot with him through the 45 minutes and finished just 0.110 seconds behind on his final flying lap. Fabio Di Giannantonio, the winner here in 2023, grabbed third with his last effort, while Pedro Acosta took fourth despite his KTM stopping on him on the final lap of the session. Acosta is still mathematically in the title fight, but the sight of his bike coasting to a halt was the last thing he needed on a weekend where nothing can go wrong. The most striking number on the board belonged to Jorge Martin. Fifth, 0.734 seconds off Marquez, and riding with a broken right wrist. Martin broke the wrist at Phillip Island, pulled out of the Malaysian Grand Prix after two and a half sessions last weekend, and was only cleared to ride on Friday morning. He will be reviewed again after the session, but his presence alone changes the shape of this title fight. "The bone is still broken but the feeling is much better," Martin admitted before the weekend, and his pace in FP1 backed that up. He trails Marquez by 44 points. Bezzecchi is 67 back. For Marquez to leave Lusail as champion, he needs to outscore Martin by 30 points and Bezzecchi by eight across the sprint and the 22-lap grand prix. Behind them, Francesco Bagnaia was sixth, a solid start for a rider who has spent most of the season fighting his own bike. Raul Fernandez, Luca Marini, Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco completed the top ten. There were early crashes for two riders: Jake Dixon, the Honda WorldSBK rider standing in for the still-ill Joan Mir, went down on his first lap back in MotoGP since 2021, and Brad Binder also fell at turn seven. Both walked away unhurt. The grid itself tells the story of this strange weekend. Only 18 riders are on track. Yamaha withdrew its factory team and its Pramac satellite squad entirely, removing Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins, Jack Miller and Augusto Fernandez from the entry list. Alex Marquez is absent after shoulder surgery earlier in the week, replaced by Iker Lecuona. The Qatar round was postponed from April because of the regional situation, and 19 of the 22 riders signed a letter asking MotoGP to take full responsibility for the race or call it off. It went ahead anyway, and Friday evening's second practice, under the lights at 19:00 local time, will decide who goes straight through to the top ten and Saturday's qualifying fight. Marquez arrived in Qatar still nursing the broken wrist he suffered at Phillip Island and passed fit on Friday morning. He was the most recent winner here, last year, and the most recent winner anywhere, last weekend in Malaysia. The first session of the weekend suggested nothing has changed: the fastest man in the championship is still the fastest man on the track, and the title is his to lose.