Valentino Rossi topped the opening practice session of 2019 MotoGP season at Losail International Circuit, while Jorge Lorenzo went 2nd quickest on his Honda debut.
The session was led by reigning champion Marc Marquez for most of the 45-minute session by setting 1:55.164s, before getting beaten by Rossi in dying moments of the session.
Lorenzo went 2 quickest on his first Honda outing, beating teammate Marquez to 2nd with 1:55.217 around the circuit with less than two minutes remaining.
But Yamaha's Valentino Rossi put a stellar lap of 1:55.048 with 45 minutes on the clock completed, beating Lorenzo by just 0.079 seconds.
Andrea Dovizioso was fourteen fastest, just a tenth down on Rossi. His new teammate Danilo Petrucci meanwhile, finished just behind him in 5th place.
Rossi's teammate Maverick Vinales finished 6th fastest in the pile, just 0.276s shy of "The Doctor".
Rookie Fabio Quartararo finished 11th on his MotoGP debut with SRT Yamaha while his teammate Franco Morbidelli was fastest of the independent teams in 8th place ahead of Jack Miller in Alma Pramac Ducati, Alex Rins in Suzuki Ecstar and Takaaki Nakagami in LCR Honda.
Pol Espargaro (KTM Factory Team) was 12th, ahead of his brother Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) while Pol's teammate Johann Zarco was 19th.
Cal Crutchlow was 17th, a full second behind Rossi.
A notable incident happened in early stages of the session, as Hafizh Syahrin crashed at Turn 6 but walked away fine and rode soon afterwards. He finished 22nd in the session.
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