Marc VDS team boss Michael Bartholemy took an unprecedented, and surprising, step of wheeling in a brace of rookies for the 2018 MotoGP season and after pre-season testing, Tom Luthi and Franco Morbidelli are ready for the lions' den.

Morbidelli, the reigning Moto2 World Champion, made significant progress adapting to the demands of Honda's RC213V and the Michelin tyres on which he'll race for the first time this season.

While the Italian has refrained from setting himself any specific goals this weekend, finishing ahead of the four other MotoGP rookies would be a solid result in his first premier class race outing. He really has only fellow Honda man Taka Nakagami to worry about in this respect.

Luthi's approach to the Qatar weekend is slightly different, with the Swiss rider still playing catch up after missing the two post-season tests in 2017 through injury. Like his Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS teammate Lüthi made significant progress during preseason testing, but he heads into the first race weekend still facing a steep learning curve, albeit slightly less precipitous than it was two months ago.

"Both Franco and Tom are new to MotoGP and they've had so much to learn in the limited amount of testing time available to them, especially Tom, who has had even less time on the bike than Franco. What is important is that both riders are patient and methodical in their approach," said Bartholemy.

"While they have occasionally been frustrated during testing when progress wasn't as fast as they felt it should be, they were able to reign in this impatience and remain focussed. They both understand that yes, we're racing, but for them these early races are also a chance to continue their adaptation to MotoGP.

"Their only goal this weekend is to finish the race and continue the improvement we've seen from them during preseason testing. If they do that then I'll be satisfied regardless of their final position on Sunday."