Moto3: Oettl a surprise at the top of the time sheets

Philipp Oettl has made a surprise appearance at the top of the time sheets after the opening night of Moto3 action in 2017, finishing ahead of Joan Mir and Gabriel Rodrigo under the floodlights in Qatar.

Oettl, like the majority of the field, was unable to improve from the first session to the second as high winds picked up at the Losail circuit, finishing the night 0.2 ahead of Mir but nearly two seconds slower in the evening’s second outing.

However, Rodrigo in third will take no further part in the weekend, instead flying home to have a badly broken collarbone plated tomorrow in Barcelona, after crashing out of the very first session of the season.

Juanfran Guevara was fourth, ahead of Romano Fenati and Marcos Ramirez, with Bo Bendsneyder, Ayumu Sasaki, Niccolo Antonelli and Adam Norrodin rounding out the top ten.

John McPhee was well off his testing pace on his first competitive outing on the British Talent Team Honda, coming home in 19^th place.