Perhaps presaging the battle that is predicted to light up the season, his teenage rival Marc Marquez was second, with second Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa third, by now almost a full second off provisional pole.

Another to continue strong testing form was fourth-fastest Jonas Folger on the satellite Monster Yamaha, one place ahead of Lorenzo, who was top Ducati, albeit only a couple of hundredths faster than satellite Avintia Ducati rider Loris Baz in sixth.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) was seventh, but admitted “I was riding badly – scared and too careful” after having to pull off with an oil leak right at the start of the session. His first inkling was “when it nearly high-sided me on Turn 1. When it’s something not in your control, it can really unsettle you”.

The team was still investigating the extent of engine damage to his new Big Bang unit, one of only seven for the season, after the first mechanical failure of the year.

Fellow Briton Sam Lowes (Aprilia) was the first in the class to fall, emerging unhurt after showering sparks spectacularly in the dark.

Second Monster Yamaha rookie Johann Zarco was eighth, Rossi ninth, then new Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro, ahead of early fast man Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati).

MotoGP had just one session; the smaller classes two apiece, with high winds slowing progress in the later outings.

Moto2 honours remained with last year’s Qatar winner Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Kalex) in spite of a crash in the second session, by virtue of his earlier time. Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Kalex) was second; while it was an impressive debut for the new Moto2 KTM, with Miguel Oliveira fourth, ahead of fancied runners Franco Morbidelli and Marc VDS Kalex team-mate Alex Marquez.

Class rookie Pecco Bagnaia was an impressive sixth on the SKY VR46 Kalex; the best of the returned Suters was Danny Kent’s Kiefer bike, placed 12th.

Experience German Philipp Oettl (Schedl KTM) moved firmly to the top of Moto3, ousting Joan Mir’s Leopard Honda in a class where he and last year’s other hot rookies are much fancied. Argentinian Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA KTM) was third; and Romano Fenati (returned on a Honda) fifth.

Rossi, Qatar MotoGP 2017

Rain comes but seldom in the desert of Qatar, but when it did in 2009, it meant the MotoGP race had to be first cancelled, then postponed until the next day.

The reason given was that dazzle from the floodlights would make racing impossible.

For 2017, the rain returned for Moto2 and 3 tests the weekend before, and there was more forecast for race weekend. And a new plan hatched to avoid another race postponement, following a secret test by current Dorna employees Loris Capirossi and Franco Uncini in February, on an artificially wettened circuit.

Dorna scheduled an extra practice session late on Thursday night, if it rained, after requiring both Michelin (MotoGP) and Dunlop (Motos 2 and 3) to bring wet tyres to the desert after all. This would settle the question as to whether the reflected light was really too dazzling to race.

So instead of praying the rain would stay away, the organiser were instead quietly commissioning rain dances and looking hopefully up at the clouds.

Hidden-wing fairings were in abeyance at Qatar, with only Suzuki running their version of bodywork with internal down-force ducting.

All MotoGP entrants except newcomers KTM had tested various solutions to the 2017 ban on external winglets, with variations on internal ducting, up at handlebar level for most, but sandwiched in the fairing flanks for Yamaha.

The most radical was Ducati’s solution, with the fairing nose narrowed to intake width, and massive squared-off hoops either side.

Suzuki’s is altogether more restrained; and team chief Davide Brivio said: “It is almost the same, so we thought we would try and see if there is any advantage.”

With the high top speeds at Losail, this is one circuit where the payoff between drag and downforce is most pronounced.

Fairings for 2017 had to be homologated before the start of this GP, although teams are also allowed to use a 2016 fairing, with winglets removed.

Footnote: Ducati may have put their narrow-nose fairings back in the truck, but the underseat “lunch boxes” remained in place, undermining views that it is a place to site electronics otherwise put in the nose.

Miller, Qatar MotoGP 2017

By Michael Scott

Photography GnG