The rain and then the wind took care of conditioning the final day of tests in Qatar. With just a half hour left in the Moto3 session, the strong gusts forced race direction to put out the red flag. Conditions did not improve as the minutes passed, so the decision to drop the curtain early on the final day, also cancelling the final Moto2 session, was inevitable. The photo, published by Estrella Galicia, gives us a better idea of what the skies over Losail is like.
A bitter weekend for the smallest engine size and the intermediate class, forced to skip more than half the scheduled sessions. On Friday, less than fifteen minutes after the start, the garage doors had already been closed up. The expectations were much different for the teams and riders, who therefore had to settle for Saturday, where the weather was on their side.
Besides the rain, the clock issued the final verdicts. Sunday at Losail bore the signature of Franco Morbidelli in the intermediate category. The Marc VDS standard bearer may not have bested the time set yesterday by Nakagamki, but that does not matter much, because this time, he took the lead, thanks to his time of 2’00”971. Behind him was Miguel Oliveira (+0.284), three tenths from the Italian, and then came the direct rival in contention for the title. We are talking about Tom Luthi (+0.333), who filed the session away in third place ahead of Xavier Simeon (+0.573) and Pecco Bagnaia (+0.647).
In Moto3, Juanfran Guevara put everyone in a row, with the clocking showing 2’07”649. A far cry from the performance by Romano Fenati yesterday, stopping the clock at 2’06”690, about one second faster.
On Thursday the free practice sessions will raise the curtain on the Qatar GP. Keep any eye on the weather, because the forecast calls for rain until Sunday.