MotoGP Catalan GP: Home favourite Espargaro leads Aprilia 1-2 in FP2
Aleix Espargaro led an Aprilia 1-2 at the end of second practice for the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix after dominating the session by 0.303 seconds.
VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi set the early pace on his GP21, jumping up to fifth on the combined order before improving to third with a 1m40.577s – which put the Italian rookie third overall.
It wouldn’t until halfway through the 45-minute afternoon session at Barcelona when Alex Rins’ best effort from FP1 was toppled by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.
The home favourite edged ahead with a 1m40.067s, which stood as the benchmark until the closing seven minutes when team-mate Maverick Vinales fired in the first soft tyre time attack of the day.
Vinales broke the 1m40s barrier with a 1m39.884s, improving to a 1m39.705s on his next tour before the rest of the field took to the circuit in the final minutes for a soft tyre time attack.
Quick lap times were posted across the order, but it was Espargaro on the Aprilia who lit up the timing screens and produced a 1m39.402s to beat Vinales by 0.303s.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Enea Bastainini completed the top three on his Gresini Ducati, with Francesco Bagnaia shadowing him in fourth on his factory team Ducati.
Jorge Martin recovered from his FP1 crash to finish Friday fifth fastest on his Pramac Ducati, albeit 0.587s off Espargaro’s best, with Brad Binder getting the KTM into the top six in sixth with a late 1m40.083s.
Jack Miller was seventh on the sister factory team Ducati from reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo, who was 0.721s off the pace on his factory Yamaha ahead of FP1 pacesetter Rins.
The Suzuki rider was trailed by Pramac’s Johann Zarco, but the Frenchman was demoted to 17th after having his final lap cancelled due to a yellow flag infringement.
This promoted Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli up to 10th ahead of Honda’s top runner Pol Espargaro in 11th.
Early pacesetter Bezzecchi also had a lap cancelled late on, which dumped him down to 14th ahead of team-mate Luca Marini and an out-of-sorts 2020 world
champion Joan Mir on the other Suzuki.
WHAT HAPPENED IN OPENING BARCELONA MOTOGP PRACTICE
Suzuki’s Alex Rins topped the opening MotoGP practice session at Barcelona, edging Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.
- Rins fastest for Suzuki on home soil
- Vinales and Morbidelli complete the top three
- Martin goes off at Turn 2
Factory Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli, who has scored just five points from the last six races, led the majority of the session before a late flying lap from Rins moved the Suzuki rider to the top of the timesheets.
Rins topped the session on a 1m40.101s, 0.195s faster than ex-Yamaha rider Vinales, who was able to displace Morbidelli to third.
Aleix Espargaro made it two Aprilias in the top four ahead of his brother Pol Espargaro.
The LCR Honda duo of Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez were sixth and seventh respectively ahead of Indonesian Grand Prix winner Miguel Oliveira.
The 2020 MotoGP champion Joan Mir was ninth for Suzuki ahead of Enea Bastianini who was the leading Ducati rider in 10th place.
Johann Zarco just missed out on a place in the top 10 while KTM Tech3 rookie Raul Fernandez used soft tyres to go 12th – two spots ahead of fellow struggling rookie team-mate Remy Gardner.
Fabio Quartararo, who signed a fresh two-year deal with Yamaha on the eve of the weekend, was 13th fastest ahead of Italian GP winner Pecco Bagnaia.
Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin was 20th, having slid off his bike at Turn 2 with just under 10 minutes of the session remaining.
As it happened: Espargaro leads dominant Aprilia showing in Catalan MotoGP FP2
Round nine of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship takes place in Catalunya at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Update: Alex Rins bounced back from consecutive DNF's in Le Mans and Mugello by topping FP1 for the Catalan MotoGP.
It was another strong opening session for Aprilia as Maverick Vinales finished second and Aleix Espargaro fourth.
Ducati head into the second Spanish race of the season in fine form following Francesco Bagnaia’s second victory in three races.
The Italian manufacturer has won over 50% of the races held so far in 2022, and with sections of the Catalan circuit expected to suit the Bologna bullets, a sixth victory is a strong possibility.
Hoping to stop Ducati’s early season dominance will be reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo who claimed his third podium in four races at Mugello.
The current championship leader also extended his points advantage after crucially beating Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro to second.
Catalunya, which hosts a Grand Prix for the 31st consecutive season this weekend, will do so without eight-time world champion Marc Marquez following the Spaniard’s decision to receive a fourth right arm operation since 2020.
Marquez managed to claim tenth in Mugello, but with the Repsol Honda rider continuing to struggle physically, it’s a move that comes as no surprise.
One team that’s in desperate need of a response is Suzuki as Joan Mir and Alex Rins have combined for 0 points in the last two races.
Four crashes between them has turned potential title challenges into unrealistic dreams as it stands.
In his three appearances at Catalunya [MotoGP], Mir has not finished lower than sixth, which includes a podium during his championship winning season [2020].
Rins also claimed a podium during the 2020 Catalan MotoGP after coming home in P3.
Of the riders currently competing in MotoGP, Marquez, Quartararo, Andrea Dovizioso and Miguel Oliveira have taken victories - Oliveira was the last to do so, while the most successful premier class riders in Barcelona are Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
The ex-Yamaha riders produced one of the greatest MotoGP races of all-time in 2009, a race which Rossi won.
The nine-time world champion won 10 times around Montmelo (six in MotoGP), while Lorenzo won six times (five in MotoGP).
Rins comes out on top in opening practice
Four different manufacturers were represented in the top five in FP1
Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) has gone fastest in MotoGP™ FP1 at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. He clocked a 1:40.101 in the final few minutes of the opening session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and backed that up with a 1:40.185 as he greeted the chequered flag. Like Rins, Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales finished with new medium compound Michelin tyres, front and rear, and consolidated second on the timing screen with a 1:40.296 on his final lap.
Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) had been the early pace-setter on his YZR-M1, and the 1:40.695 which the Italian set on his first run was good enough for him to be classified third when the music stopped. Aleix Espargaro, who has now finished third for the last four MotoGP™ races in a row now, mixed things up ever so slightly by setting a 1:40.708 which saw him claim fourth-fastest in FP1. The Repsol Honda Team’s Pol Espargaro made for four different manufacturers in the top five with a 1:40.733 which he set on used tyres (soft front, medium rear) at the half-hour mark.
Two more Honda riders followed on the timesheet, namely team-mates Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) and Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol). Nakagami went as quick as a 1:40.868 and Marquez was just 0.004 seconds slower, with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Miguel Oliveira taking eighth on a 1:40.901. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was ninth and Ducati rider Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) made sure all six factories were represented in the top 10.
We have to look back to 14th to find World Championship leader and newly re-signed Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ rider Fabio Quartararo, whose personal-best was a 1:40.938. One position behind him was the man who reignited his title bid with victory a week ago at Mugello, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), the Italian clocking a 1:41.105. Of course, it is just FP1 and it seemed that neither went for a time attack in the closing stages.
Track temperature was already up to 35 degrees Celsius on Friday morning at Barcelona, suggesting a warm weekend. However, the only crash of the session, suffered by Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), looked like it may have been the result of slipping on a cooled-out left-hand side of the tyre as he negotiated Turn 2 in the final 10 minutes. Martin was able to walk away from the spill, before heading back on track and ultimately being classified 20th in the session.
Can Rins stay on top, or will someone else jump up the timesheet in FP2? Find out later on Friday when that session gets underway at 14:10 (GMT +2).
MotoGP™ FP1 Top 10:
1. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – 1:40.101
2. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) + 0.195
3. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) + 0.594
4. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.607
5. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.632
6. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.767
7. Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) + 0.771
8. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.800
9. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.806
10. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing) + 0.930
Barcelona MotoGP: Suzuki's Rins leads Vinales in FP1
Suzuki’s Alex Rins opened up the Catalan Grand Prix fastest of all in the first MotoGP practice session of the weekend in Barcelona.
MotoGP's return to Spain for its second of four races in the country began under perfect conditions, with home favourite Aleix Espargaro setting the early pace on his Aprilia with a 1m41.734s.
The Spaniard comes into the ninth round of the campaign in Barcelona just eight points off the championship lead after becoming just the third rider on the current grid to score four consecutive podiums in a season last time out at Mugello.
Joan Mir on the Suzuki would quickly depose Espargaro with a 1m41.215s, which he bettered on his following tour to a 1m40.907s as the 2020 world champion looks to end Suzuki’s points drought since it made its shock decision to quit MotoGP at the end of 2022.
Espargaro returned to the top of the pile with a 1m40.745s with just over 10 minutes of the 45-minute session gone.
But once again the Aprilia rider’s stint at the head of the field was short-lived, as Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli shot to the top of the order with a 1m40.695s.
The three-time MotoGP race winner’s lap would stand as the benchmark until the final six minutes, as Rins on the second factory Suzuki headed out on fresh medium rubber to end the session.
His first lap on new tyres was a 1m40.631s, before he found a big improvement on his next lap with a 1m40.101s.
As the chequered flag came out, Rins’ time would go unchallenged, leaving him to top the session by 0.195 seconds.
Maverick Vinales joined Rins in fitting fresh medium rubber for a late time attack and jumped up to second with a 1m40.296s, with Morbidelli rounding out the top three.
Aleix Espargaro was fourth in the end after his early stint at the top of the timesheets, with his Honda-mounted brother Pol Espargaro finishing fifth as his absent teammate Marc Marquez underwent successful surgery on his right arm in America on Thursday.
LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was sixth on his RC213V, which has a new chassis and swingarm Marquez had been using previously.
Teammate Alex Marquez was seventh ahead of 2021 Barcelona race winner Miguel Oliveira on the factory KTM, Mir and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini, who was the only Ducati rider inside the top 10 in FP1.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo – who announced a new two-year deal with Yamaha on Thursday - put almost race distance on his tyres in FP1 and was 13th at the end of the session on his M1 behind Tech 3 rookie Raul Fernandez and Pramac’s Johann Zarco.
Mugello race winner Francesco Bagnaia also didn’t switch tyres at the end of FP1 and shadowed Quartararo in 14th ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder, while Jack Miller was 18th on the sister factory team Ducati.
Pramac’s Jorge Martin was the only crasher in FP1, the Spaniard – who will have surgery on a nerve issue in his right hand on Monday – taking a tumble late on at Turn 2.
He was 20th, with Marquez’s Honda replacement Stefan Bradl 23rd at the end of FP1.
FP2 for the 2022 MotoGP Catalan GP will get underway at 2:10pm local time.
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