MotoGP 2015, Qatar Practice 2, 3: Marc Marquez on top by only a narrow margin from Cal Crutchlow

MARC Marquez’s MotoGP rivals are right on his tail heading into the opening qualifying session for the 2015 season at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Spanish MotoGP rider Marc Marquez of the Repsol Honda Team , right, steers his bike during a free practice session of the MotoGP World Championship at the Losail International Circuit in Doha , Qatar, Friday, March 27, 2015. The 2015 Qatar MotoGP takes place on Sunday March 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)

MARC Marquez’s MotoGP rivals are right on his tail heading into the opening qualifying session for the 2015 season at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion once again topped the times across Friday’s two practice sessions at the Losail circuit, his 1m54.822s best dipping under the lap record set by Casey Stoner in 2008 by three tenths of a second.

But just 0.096 of a second behind him is Cal Crutchlow on a satellite Honda, with the top ten riders covered by just half a second.

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The British rider, in his debut for Lucio Cecchinello Racing after splitting with Ducati at the end of last year, turned heads with the late lap and appears to be a genuine threat for pole position when qualifying takes place on Saturday night.

Cal Crutchlow.

“Obviously I’m happy enough with the lap time tonight and how things were feeling at the end of the session, but the early part of it was a bit of a disaster,” Crutchlow said.

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“I’m not sure today’s speed and lap-times are relative to where we will finish the race, but I hope it is!”

A further 0.074s behind in third place was Andrea Iannone on the first of the Ducatis, while Aleix Espargaro continued to demonstrate the new Suzuki’s surprisingly strong form with a lap just 0.002s shy of Iannone’s best.

“In the first session we improved the traction control and my feeling with the bike got better and better,” Espargaro said.

“I feel confident with both tyre compounds, which is important for qualifying and the race. Now we need to improve a little bit the feeling with the front-end and hopefully validate our potential race pace, while attempting a fastest lap in qualifying to see where we can be on the grid.”

Dani Pedrosa wound up fifth on the second of the factory Repsol Hondas — just 0.202s off his teammate’s place — ahead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and an impressive Yonny Hernandez on the Pramac team’s satellite Ducati.

The Yamahas of Rossi and Lorenzo finished down the timesheets.

The manufacturer missing from the first seven spots was Yamaha, whose factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi could manage no better than eighth and ninth places.

Although both men are confident of their race pace, they are also concerned that the softer rubber afforded to the Ducatis and Suzukis could see them struggle to qualify at the front.

“It will be a hard fight for the front row tomorrow, because many riders have the extra soft tyre, that gives them four-tenths of a second,” Lorenzo said.

“They are also stronger than last year, so it will even be difficult to get a position on the second row, but you never know what will happen.

“Maybe we can find something that will give us half a second and even let us fight for pole position.”

Jack Miller.

Australia’s Jack Miller continued to make steady progress in his MotoGP debut, cutting his deficit down from 1.7 seconds on Thursday to 1.3 seconds after the second day of practice.

The bikes next hit the track for Free Practice 4, ahead of the twin-phase qualifying session to determine the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Qatar.

COMBINED TIMES — Practice 2 and 3, MotoGP Round 1, Qatar
1. (93) Marc Marquez (Honda) 1m54.822s
2. (35) Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +0.096s
3. (29) Andrea Iannone (Ducati) +0.170s
4. (41) Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) +0.172s
5. (26) Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.202s
6. (4) Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) +0.222s
7. (68) Yonny Hernandez (Ducati) +0.280s
8. (99) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0.286s
9. (46) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.370s
10. (44) Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) +0.506s
11. (8) Hector Barbera (Ducati) +0.574s
12. (45) Scott Redding (Honda) +0.625s
13. (25) Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) +0.854s
14. (6) Stefan Bradl (Forward Yamaha) +0.872s
15. (63) Mike Di Meglio (Ducati) +0.885s
16. (38) Bradley Smith (Yamaha) +0.919s
17. (9) Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) +0.955s
18. (69) Nicky Hayden (Honda) +0.967s
19. (50) Eugene Laverty (Honda) +1.091s
20. (17) Karel Abraham (Honda) +1.258s
21. (43) Jack Miller (Honda) +1.340s
22. (15) Alex de Angelis (ART) +1.946s
23. (76) Loris Baz (Forward Yamaha) +2.144s
24. (19) Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) +2.285s
25. (33) Marco Melandri (Aprilia) +3.720s

Originally published as MotoGP 2015, Qatar Practice 2, 3: Marc Marquez on top by only a narrow margin from Cal Crutchlow