KTM’s Binder tops first practice of 2022 MotoGP season in Qatar

KTM was quickest in the first practice of the 2022 MotoGP season, with Brad Binder leading the way in Qatar as Francesco Bagnaia crashed.

Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro spent the vast majority of the 45-minute session out front, and was only dethroned with eight minutes left on the clock – when Suzuki’s 2022 champion Joan Mir went a mere seven thousandths faster.

Mir’s team-mate Alex Rins then ventured out on a pair of fresh softs and lowered the benchmark by another tenth, but this was followed by a flurry of late improvements from riders on harder rubber, which culminated in Binder taking over the top spot – using a fresh medium rear – mere moments before the chequered flag flew.

Binder’s laptime was a 1m54.8541, still around a couple of seconds off the Losail track record, with the daytime FP1 (and Saturday’s FP3) offering largely unrepresentative conditions compared to the qualifying and race under the floodlights.

Behind Binder, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami led the Honda contingent in second, ahead of the factory Hondas of Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez – who made it three Hondas in the top five.

Rins, courtesy of another late improvement of his own, would slot in between Nakagami and the works Hondas in third.

Franco Morbidelli led the Yamaha contingent in sixth, followed by Mir, Aleix Espargaro, Nakagami’s team-mate Alex Marquez and Binder’s team-mate Miguel Oliveira.

Reigning series champion Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) began the season with 11th place, 0.749s off the pace. Another tenth behind him was the fastest of the eight Ducatis, that of Pramac rider Jorge Martin.

Of the two factory Ducatis, which made headlines by reverting to a ‘hybrid’ engine spec for the season in an 11th-hour decision, Jack Miller was 13th and Francesco Bagnaia 18th, the latter tucking the front while approaching Turn 6 in the final moments.

A rare mistake from @PeccoBagnaia! 😮

The front folds at Turn 6! 💥#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/TClNIZleXG

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 4, 2022

The only other crash was that of rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati).

The unfortunate first crasher of the 2022 season is rookie @FabioDiggia49! 😢

Thankfully, Fabio is all ok! 👍#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/thZvf6zEbd

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 4, 2022

There were four rookies in the bottom four of the timesheets, but one managed to climb higher up – this being Tech3 KTM’s Remy Gardner, still nursing a wrist injury, in 19th.

Practice 1 Results