Bradley Smith endured a disappointing debut⛦ in Qatar after the Tech 3 Yamaha rider crashed unhurt on the fifth lap.

Smith had been lying in 11th place when he went down aꦓt corner seven, bringing his maiden race in the MotoGP class to an unceremoniou♔s conclusion at Losail.

The Briton had made a lightning start off the line, passing Repsol Honda's Marc꧟ Marquez to move into the top six.

However, as Smith attempted to settl🌞e into a rhythm, he lost the front 🎃of his M1.

"It is ꦺfrustrating to crash out of my first MotoGP race so early because I need to be gaining all the ♎experience I can.

"We changed the bike for tonight and the bike was much better on corner entry," said Smith, who qualified in ninth po🎃sition.

"Unfortunately I lost the front at Turn 7 and I was down. I'd had a coupl🏅e of warnings and I will know for the future that I am close to the limit when that happens."

Smith will focus on the positives of a satisfying qual🐈ify💃ing performance as he now looks ahead to the second race in Austin Texas, in two weeks' time.

"There are a 🦩lot more positives than negatives to come out of this weekend but I can't deny it would have been great to start the year with a top 10 finish," he said.

"We move onto the next race in Austin where the goꦐal again will be to build up my experience and lear꧙n more about the bike."

Tech 3 team manager, Herve Poncharal,๊ said that although Smith's accident was a blow, he remains confident the British rider will become a re🤡gular top 10 finisher this season.

"It was a big shame f🍬or Bradley because it would have been good to start the championship inside the top 10," he said.

"He really🦄 could have picked up a lot of information to get more experience to learn from, but these things can happen and the crash shouldn't detract from the fact that he had a very encouraging weekend that bodes well for the future.

"We are looking forward to seeing his🌱 development during the next races but I've no doubt he is going to ♏be regular inside the top 10."