2024 Qatar MotoGP, Lusail - Warm-up Results

*Rookie.

Official Lusail MotoGP records   
Best lap: Jorge Martin 1m 50.789s (2024)   
Fastest race lap: Enea Bastianini 1m 52.978s (2023)

Maverick Vinales surprises by leading the Lusail timesheets during the daylight warm-up for the 2024 Qatar MotoGP season opener.

The factory Aprilia rider, ninth in the Sprint and mystified by the lack of grip relative to the test, set a 1m 52.660s on his sixth and final lap of warm-up to edge out VR46 Ducati's Marco Bezzecchi by 0.071s.

Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse) and Alex Marquez also featured on top of the timesheets on their way to third and fourth. 

The Gresini rider was a subdued seventh in the Sprint but set a peerless pace over the second half of the 11 laps, with only his final lap outside of the 1m 52s.

Rookie Pedro Acosta, eighth in the Sprint, was the only rider to run the soft (rather than medium) rear tyre this afternoon on his way to fifth.

Fabio di Giannantonio, the only faller in Saturday's race, was back on track for sixth ahead of Marc Marquez, who finished fifth on his Gresini race debut in the Sprint.

Sprint winner Jorge Martin put a hard pass on Miguel Oliveira through the final corner early in the warm-up, the Trackhouse rider making his displeasure clear at turn 1. 

Martin was 17th in warm-up, just behind fellow Sprint podium finisher Aleix Espargaro, with Oliveira in last place.

Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia and team-mate Enea Bastianini were eighth and ninth.

Yamaha, seeking a last-minute solution for severe tyre degradation issues in the Sprint, were 10th and 12th with Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins.

Joan Mir, 15th on Saturday, was again the to Honda this afternoon, in 18th.

The day and night difference between warm-up and the race means the 15-minute session was seen as being of less value than usual ahead of tonight's 22-lap grand prix.

• Qatar Moto2: Latest Results
• Qatar Moto3: Latest Results

Franco Morbidelli is riding for the first time since Valencia last November. The new Pramac Ducati rider missed both pre-season tests as a precaution after being knocked unconscious in a January training accident.

Miguel Oliveira will have a long lap penalty to serve on Sunday, carried over from last November’s Qatar event, the Portuguese having missed the 2023 Valencia finale due to injury.

Revised tyre pressure rules for 2024 mean riders must now stay above a lower front minimum of 1.8 bar (instead of 1.88) for 60% (instead of 50%) of a Grand Prix distance, or 30% of a Sprint.

The penalty for failing to meet this minimum in a Grand Prix will be a 16-second post-race time penalty, or an 8-second penalty for a Sprint/short race.