MotoGP new boy Bradley Smith will contest the second round of the Qatar International Road Racing Championship at Losail on Saturday to get a feel for the circuit at which he will make his premier class debut.

The Oxfordshire rider will partner Cal Crutchlow at Monster Yamaha this year and is racing at the Doha track to gain some familiarity before he lands there for the opening MotoGP race. He will ride an R1 in both the QMMF rounds.

“I’ve been pushing really hard to make this happen. Of course it’s great preparation for me before MotoGP testing gets underway in Sepang but also I’m certain there is some real racing talent in that part of the world," said Smith.

"You only have to see how MotoGP has exploded in Malaysia to understand what the success of local riders can achieve. I end the trip with a couple of races in Qatar and it will be interesting to see just how the riders have improved actually racing against them.”