After two days of training for the MotoGP riders, today it was the 125cc and 250cc riders’ turn, who completed their first training session on the Losail Circuit under the floodlights. With Marc Márquez absent due to the injury he received a week ago to the ulna and radius in his right arm, Esteve Rabat and Julián Simón represented the Repsol KTM 125cc and 250cc teams.
Tonight’s training sessions were divided into four rounds. The first of them was combined – with the riders in the two categories sharing the track -, followed by a further two individual rounds – the 125cc riders ran first, then the 250cc riders -, and finally, a last round which was combined again, with riders from the two categories sharing the track. Esteve Rabat suffered a light fall when the rear tyre of his KTM 125 FRR lost adherence. Fortunately the fall was not hard, as he was not thrown over his bike and the incident remained nothing more than a fright. Rabat completed today a total of 61 laps and his best time was 2’07.837. Julián Simón focused today on testing the setup of his new bike, adapting it to the special conditions of the Qatari track. The rider from Toledo completed a total of 56 laps on the Losail Circuit, and his best register was 2’02.606.
Julián Simón >> Audio
“It has been an incredible experience and very positive; I think they have done a great job here with the lighting on the circuit. It will be an experience for us all to contest the first night Gran Prix in history. At the beginning I had a hard time getting used to these new conditions, the shadow from my own bike being particularly annoying, but after a few laps and with concentration you can forget about that and have the same feeling as if it were daytime. Maybe the main negative aspect was that when the temperature drops at night, the tarmac is colder. As night falls things get more difficult in that sense, because the tarmac is colder and there are more problems with the grip. Having seen this, it will be very important to bear in mind the conditions that we find when the time comes for the race on 9th March”.
Esteve Rabat >> Audio
“Well, it’s not that different to riding during the day, except that the track shines and there are a few shadows, but if you focus on riding it doesn’t necessarily have to affect you. This first day was quite intense for us; we’ve been trying out different solutions on the bike in order to find the best setup and to get used to riding at night, because it’s colder and the tarmac isn’t in the same conditions. This track is very special because it is not used much during the year and the grip is not as good as it could be at the start. I had a light fall earlier that was nothing really; the rear tyre suddenly skidded, but fortunately it was a soft fall and I wasn’t tossed into the air”.
