The only night practice of the Qatar weekend proved to be a tight affair, as Fernandez on his year-old Aprilia edged ahead of Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio by 0.049 seconds after an hour of running.
Maverick Vinales had been set to end second practice fastest of all with a new lap record, but the Aprilia rider had his 1m52.652s deleted due to setting it under yellow flags after several late crashes.
