In his first weekend on the HRC Honda Racing MotoGP machine in Qatar, Jake Dixon has adapted quickly to his bike and surroundings, with a solid finish in the opening Sprint race.

With limited time to get get adjusted to the Honda Jake has continued to impress everyone with just how consistent he has been since hitting the track in free practice on Friday.

He improved his best time from Friday by another 0.6s in Q1 on Saturday morning. Ending the 15-minute session just 0.117s behind Diogo Moreira and out qualifying former Grand Prix winner Maverick Viñales, the 30-year-old continued to demonstrate his raw speed.

Aware the Sprint would be a bigger challenge, Dixon worked to stay with the likes of Marini, Viñales and Morbidelli for as long as possible to better understand how to manage a MotoGP machine over race distance. 16th at the flag and under six seconds from the ultra-experienced Viñales, and with valuable lessons learned, the #96 will be aiming to put them to work in Sunday’s 22-lap Qatar GP.

Speaking after the race, Dixon said: “To be a tenth from Moreira and three tenths from Marini in Qualifying was honestly better than we were expecting. I am really happy with how the weekend has gone so far which might seem strange given the position we are in, but when you check the times and everything – the progress we are making is really good.

“The Sprint was always going to be difficult because there are a lot more unknowns and I just tried to follow the guys ahead for as long as possible before the tyre started to drop. We certainly understand a little bit more now so hopefully we can improve a few things on Sunday. Time is what it takes to gain this knowledge, and we don’t have much time this weekend, just focusing and taking the steps we can and enjoying everything.”