A mixed evening at the Lusail International Circuit for the Repsol Honda Team as Marc Marquez made the most of Q2 before overcoming a Sprint full of hard knocks. Conditions in Qatar remained calm and stable as the premier class rolled out of pit lane under the View this email in your browser   Sprint Race Report Saturday, Nov 18th 2023   Grand Prix of Qatar MotoGP 2023   Round 19 Hard knocks and complications for the Repsol Honda Team in Qatar A mixed evening at the Lusail International Circuit for the Repsol Honda Team as Marc Marquez made the most of Q2 before overcoming a Sprint full of hard knocks. Conditions in Qatar remained calm and stable as the premier class rolled out of pit lane under the setting sun to start their Saturday. Both Repsol Honda Team riders completed their final preparations in ‘morning’ practice before heading into Qualifying. Marc Marquez continued to achieve his targets for each session, transforming a top-ten on Friday into a solid seventh place in Qualifying. Having entered the weekend with reserved expectations, the continual improvements buoyed the eight-time World Champion for the Sprint. A strong start to the short race saw the #93 hustling in and around the top five with a flurry of hard moves shuffling the pack around. Unfortunately, a racing incident with Brad Binder forced Marquez off track, dropping him back from the group battling at the front. The fighting resumed for Marquez who did his best to defend before crossing the line in 11th, just outside of the Sprint points. The complications continued for Joan Mir who was unable to make major improvements to his overall position throughout Saturday. Qualifying in 20th, the 2020 MotoGP World Champion started well and made up several places in the opening laps. The 11-lap Sprint would conclude with Mir battling alongside Takaaki Nakagami, ending the race in 19th. Now the main event awaits the MotoGP field, the 22-lap Qatar Grand Prix scheduled to commence at 20:00 on Sunday, November 19. Marc Marquez  93 11th  "We made a really good start to the race and had a strong first lap. Unfortunately, I had a race incident with Binder soon after, it happens. Then I got a bit stuck behind Zarco and I couldn't get past him which limited us. Towards the end of the race I went wide at Turn 1 and had some contact with Raul Fernandez – sorry to him. At a track like Qatar, these things can happen because when you go off line even a little bit it is very slippery. Another one to try tomorrow." Joan Mir  36 19th  "Today was really tough and we obviously can't be happy with the result. There are some things that we need to check deeply to understand our situation better for the race tomorrow. I was expecting more from today because it looked like we had found the direction to follow on Friday. There's another chance tomorrow so let's see what's possible." Qatar GP - Sprint Race Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 Martin Jorge 89 SPA 12 Pramac Racing Ducati 20'52.634 2 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA 9 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.391 3 Marini Luca 10 ITA 7 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 2.875 4 Marquez Alex 73 SPA 6 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 3.370 5 Bagnaia Francesco 1 ITA 5 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 3.957 6 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA 4 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 4.239 7 Binder Brad 33 RSA 3 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 5.761 8 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA 2 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 6.454 9 Fernandez Augusto 37 SPA 1 Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 8.285 10 Zarco Johann 5 FRA 0 Pramac Racing Ducati 8.314 11 Marquez Marc 93 SPA 0 Repsol Honda Team Honda 9.596 12 Miller Jack 43 AUS 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 10.173 13 Bezzecchi Marco 72 ITA 0 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 10.646 14 Fernandez Raul 25 SPA 0 RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 11.117 15 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA 0 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 12.163 16 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA 0 Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 12.745 17 Lecuona Iker 27 SPA 0 LCR Honda Honda 19.285 18 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN 0 LCR Honda Honda 26.238 19 Mir Joan 36 SPA 0 Repsol Honda Team Honda 28.446 20 Bastianini Enea 23 ITA 0 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 35.553 21 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA DNF Aprilia Racing Aprilia DNF 22 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR DNF RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia DNF Rider Standings Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor 1 Bagnaia Francesco 1 ITA 417 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 2 Martin Jorge 89 SPA 410 Pramac Racing Ducati 3 Bezzecchi Marco 72 ITA 323 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 4 Binder Brad 33 RSA 257 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 5 Zarco Johann 5 FRA 200 Pramac Racing Ducati 6 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA 198 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 7 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA 179 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 8 Marini Luca 10 ITA 178 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 9 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA 158 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 10 Miller Jack 43 AUS 156 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 11 Marquez Alex 73 SPA 155 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 12 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA 109 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 13 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA 93 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 14 Marquez Marc 93 SPA 84 Repsol Honda Team Honda 15 Bastianini Enea 23 ITA 76 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 16 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR 76 RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 17 Fernandez Augusto 37 SPA 70 Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 18 Rins Alex 42 SPA 54 LCR Honda Honda 19 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN 52 LCR Honda Honda 20 Fernandez Raul 25 SPA 40 RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 21 Pedrosa Dani 26 SPA 32 KTM Test Team KTM 22 Mir Joan 36 SPA 24 Repsol Honda Team Honda 23 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA 13 Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 24 Savadori Lorenzo 32 ITA 9 RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 25 Folger Jonas 94 GER 9 Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 26 Bradl Stefan 6 GER 8 Repsol Honda Team Honda 27 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA 5 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 28 Pirro Michele 51 ITA 5 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 29 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR 3 Yamaha Test Team Yamaha Copyright Free Images For editorial use only, click here to download images. Location Information The fabulous Lusail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready for the inaugural event – the Marlboro Grand… read more. Length 5.380 kilometres / 3.343 miles Width 12 metres Left corners 6 Right corners 10 Longest straight 1.068 kilometres / 0.664 miles Constructed 2004 Circuit Records Pole Position 1m 51.762s (173.2km/h) Luca Marini (Ducati, 2023) Race Lap 1m 53.355s (170.8 km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2023) Race Time 42m13.198 (168.2km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2022) 2023 Sprint Winner Jorge Martin (Ducati) 2022 Race Winner Enea Bastianini (Ducati) Losail International Circuit, Al Daayen, Qatar –  View in Google Maps www.circuitlosail.com You are receiving this email because you have registered your interest with Honda Racing CorporationIf you no longer want to receive emails from Repsol Honda Team - MotoGP, please click here to unsubscribe .