MotoGP organisers call off Qatar qualifying

While the chance of rain featured on forecasts for each day of the Qatar Grand Prix week, the first two days of running at the Losail circuit were not affected.

That changed with storms and heavy rain on Saturday, and even though it stopped falling several hours before the first scheduled session, the track failed to dry out sufficiently.

With concerns over whether riders would be able to race in the wet under lights, an extra session for riders to evaluate the conditions was initially scheduled for early Saturday evening. 

That was postponed indefinitely and ultimately cancelled, with Moto3, Moto2 and Asia Talent Cup running also binned.

Fourth practice was delayed by 35 minutes to 8:30pm pending track conditions, with qualifying to follow, however 20 minutes before that time organisers announced that all schedules for Saturday evening had been cancelled. 

Grids for all three classes will be determined on the results of the three completed practice sessions on Thursday and Friday, with Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales to start on pole position in MotoGP, ahead of Andrea Iannone and Marc Marquez.

Valentino Rossi will start 10th, while Jorge Lorenzo will begin his first race for Ducati from 12th.

While most of the 3.375-mile layout was dry, rivers of water ran across the track in numerous locations, despite efforts to clear them.

There were also concerns about water remaining on the kerbs and astroturf run-off areas, and large pools of water in the gravel traps.

While the door had been opened to move the race to daylight hours on Sunday, it remains scheduled for 9pm local time, after Moto3 and Moto2.

Warm-up sessions for all three classes, though, have been extended from 20 minutes to 30.

Full grid order:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	25	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	1m54.316s
2	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1m54.848s	0.532s
3	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1m54.912s	0.596s
4	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1m55.008s	0.692s
5	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1m55.042s	0.726s
6	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1m55.085s	0.769s
7	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1m55.113s	0.797s
8	94	Jonas Folger	Yamaha	1m55.208s	0.892s
9	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1m55.211s	0.895s
10	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1m55.414s	1.098s
11	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1m55.435s	1.119s
12	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1m55.461s	1.145s
13	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1m55.581s	1.265s
14	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1m55.624s	1.308s
15	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1m55.634s	1.318s
16	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1m55.959s	1.643s
17	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1m56.003s	1.687s
18	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1m56.179s	1.863s
19	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1m56.368s	2.052s
20	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1m56.725s	2.409s
21	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1m56.854s	2.538s
22	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1m57.116s	2.800s
23	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1m57.654s	3.338s