Doha (AFP)

The expected duel between Ducati and Yamaha is keeping its promises: the two brands will take the first seven places on the starting grid of the Grand Prix of Qatar on Sunday, with the Italian Francesco Bagnaia on pole ahead of the French Fabio Quartararo.

Promoted official drivers of the two brands during the winter, Bagnaia and Quartararo lived up to expectations during the first qualifying sessions of the season on Saturday and will try to do so again on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. local (7:00 p.m. French).

The Italian, Moto2 champion in 2018 before joining the elite the following year, even matched his first pole in the premier motorcycle speed category with the Losail circuit's absolute record, in 1 min 52 sec 772/1000 .

"It's the best way to start with a new team", welcomed the one we nicknamed Pecco and who "thought (t) since the tests yesterday (Friday) that it was possible to go down to 1 min 52 sec ".

"I would like to do my best to finish the race tomorrow (Sunday) in the best possible way because I believe that we can really sign a great result", adds the Italian, to whom Quartararo echoes by assuring that he "sen (t) a lot of potential ".

"I feel good, I feel fast. I will give everything," promises the French.

Behind the duo will start the Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Yamaha), the Italian Valentino Rossi (Yamaha-SRT), the Australian Jack Miller (Ducati), the French Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) and the Italian Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha-SRT), before Aprilia and Suzuki of Spaniards Aleix Espargaro, Alex Rins and Joan Mir, the reigning champion.

The fastest in free practice, Miller may regret not having been able to reproduce this performance when it counted ...

- Zarco flashed at 362 km / h!

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For Bagnaia, the Ducati, the Yamaha but also the Suzuki have their chances of winning in the race.

"Yam" holds the record for success at Losail (8 against 5 at Ducati) but the statistics first exist to be denied and the Italian brand enjoys an undeniable advantage in straight line speed.

As proof, Zarco, who is aiming for the top 5 in the race to start his season in the best possible way, set in free practice 4 a new speed record in MotoGP at 362.4 km / h!

Aware of this, Quartararo recalls that it will be imperative to have a successful start in order to then set his pace, because his mount is struggling to overtake the motorcycles of other brands.

It will also be necessary to deal with gusts of desert wind potentially laden with sand.

"We know that our bike suffers in these conditions but it is only the Hondas that do not seem to be affected by this," Bagnaia notes.

For MotoGP, we will finally retain the small form of the KTMs (the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira is 15th, the South African Brad Binder 19th, the Italian Danilo Petrucci 20th and the Spaniard Iker Lecuona 21st) and the pretty first "qualifiers" of the Italian beginners Enea Bastianini (Ducati-Avintia), 13th, and Spanish Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac), 14th.

In Moto2, the Briton Sam Lowes showed his ambitions for the season by dominating the qualifications, ahead of a promoted from the lower category, the Spaniard Raul Fernandez.

In Moto3, pole (with the circuit record) goes to one of the favorites, the South African Darryn Binder, who managed to turn the tide after going through the qualifying draft, ahead of the 16-year-old Spanish rookie. Izan Guevara and the experienced British John McPhee.

As for the French debutant Lorenzo Fellon, he is placed penultimate on the grid.

© 2021 AFP