The Ducati Lenovo Team secures a direct place in Q2 in Qatar with both riders: Marc Márquez second quickest in Practice, Francesco Bagnaia fourth

• Fabio Di Giannantonio sets a new outright lap record at the circuit with the Ducati of VR46 Racing Team to top the timesheets

The Ducati Lenovo Team tackled the opening day of action at the Lusail International Circuit, host of the twentieth Grand Prix of the season. Marc Márquez wrapped up Practice in second position, while Francesco Bagnaia finished the session in fourth place.

Márquez, who topped FP1, was the first rider to break the 1'51s barrier in Practice and ultimately finished just 0.142 seconds off the fastest time of the day. Bagnaia, sixth in Free Practice, made a further step forward in the afternoon session, consistently remaining among the top positions while showing good pace aboard the Desmosedici GP.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow at 14:00 local time (GMT+3) for Free Practice 2, followed by Q2 (15:05) and the 11-lap Qatari Sprint, which gets underway at 19:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 2nd
“The goal for today was to finish among the top positions. We achieved that, and tomorrow we'll try to do an even better job. We expected our main rivals to be competitive here, as well as Di Giannantonio, who is always very quick at this track. Still, we're happy with the result: we're in the top three and very close to the leader. We're focused solely on ourselves and on doing our best. First, we need to think about qualifying and, depending on how we perform, we'll have a better understanding of our chances in the Sprint.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 4th
“I'm very happy with today. We worked well, especially with used tyres. In a way, I was expecting this kind of result because this track is very similar to Brno in terms of layout and grip, which allows me to have better support from the rear. The time attack went well: I didn't want to push too hard, but in the end we were already fast on our first attempt. When things go in the right direction from the get-go, you keep improving consistently, run after run. We'll keep working and see how tomorrow goes.”