The 2015 season has officially begun in Losail with reigning World Champion, Marc Marquez, ending the first practice session at the top of the time sheets, and teammate Dani Pedrosa just 0.76s behind in second place.

With track conditions surprisingly good on this first day – considering the rain that has fallen in the past week – the MotoGP class were immediately on the pace with Dani setting his fastest time of 1’55.357 on just his third lap, sending him to the top of the classifications. Marc’s second lap placed him second behind Dani and then after a brief modification, Marc went back on track and his fifth lap put him on top of the board with a time of 1’55.281 (just 0.128 off Casey Stoner’s circuit lap record in 2008 – 1’55.153), and remained unbeaten for the remainder of the session.

It was an impressive display from the Repsol Honda riders, who are 0.4s faster than their next opponent (Aleix Espargaro), with a mere second separating 3rd place to 16th.

FP2 will commence tomorrow at 18:00 local time.

Marc Marquez - 1ST 1'55.281 [LAP 5/15]

"Today went pretty well. It is always important to make a good start to the weekend. I felt good and the feeling was similar to that which we had in pre-season testing, although maybe there was a little less grip. We tried some things that we had prepared after the test and this went well. Tomorrow we will try to keep progressing, but we can't forget that the track surface here will improve a lot and the times will come down."

Dani Pedrosa - 2ND 1'55.357 [LAP 3/15]

"We have completed the first session of the year and we have done quite well. Now we are going to work on the bike to in preparation for the coming days. We need to keep taking steps forward as the weekend goes on and keep improving our pace. The track was in quite good condition and we'll see how it evolves over the course of the Grand Prix weekend.”


1 - MARQUEZ Marc - 93 - SPA - Repsol Honda Team - 1’55.281
2 - PEDROSA Dani - 26 - SPA - Repsol Honda Team - 1’55.357
3 - ESPARGARO Aleix - 41 - SPA - Team Suzuki Ecstar - 1’55.685
4 - LORENZO Jorge - 99 - SPA - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1’55.698
5 - CRUTCHLOW Cal - 35 - GBR - CWM LCR Honda - 1’55.818
6 - PETRUCCI Danilo - 9 - ITA - Pramac Racing - 1’55.939
7 - DOVIZIOSO Andrea - 4 - ITA - Ducati Team - 1’55.980
8 - HERNANDEZ Yonny - 68 - COL - Pramac Racing - 1’56.139
9 - ROSSI Valentino - 46 - ITA - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1’56.162
10 - IANNONE Andrea - 29 - ITA - Ducati Team - 1’56.315
11 - ESPARGARO Pol - 44 - SPA - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1’56.361
12 - REDDING Scott - 45 - GBR - Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS - 1’56.374
13 - SMITH Bradley - 38 - GBR - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1’56.428
14 - BRADL Stefan - 6 - GER - Athina Forward Racing - 1’56.577
15 - ABRAHAM Karel - 17 - CZE - AB Motoracing - 1’56.651
16 - DE ANGELIS Alex - 15 - RSM - Athina Forward Racing - 1’56.768
17 - VINALES Maverick - 25 - SPA - Team Suzuki Ecstar - 1’56.922
18 - BARBERA Hector - 8 - SPA - Avintia Racing - 1’56.957
19 - MILLER Jack - 43 - AUS - CWM LCR Honda - 1’56.983
20 - BAZ Loris - 76 - FRA - Athina Forward Racing - 1’57.031
21 - HAYDEN Nicky - 69 - USA - Aspar MotoGP Team - 1’57.052
22 - BAUTISTA Alvaro - 19 - SPA - Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1’57.130
23 - LAVERTY Eugene - 50 - IRE - Aspar MotoGP Team - 1’57.224
24 - DI MEGLIO Mike - 63 - FRA - Avintia Racing - 1’57.612
25 - MELANDRI Marco - 33 - ITA - Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1’59.579