2024 Japan GP Practice Results

A third round in as many weeks takes place this weekend, with the Japanese Grand Prix. The series arrives directly from the Indonesian GP, as Motegi hosts a classic event on the MotoGP calendar. The first day of practice concluded with Brad Binder setting the best time on Friday. Marc Márquez finished second, ahead of World Championship leader Jorge Martín.

The Top 10, who go directly into Q2, was completed by Acosta, Bastianini, Viñales, Bagnaia, Álex Márquez, Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi.

Mir and Marini make first adjustments at Honda’s home round

The first day of practice for the Japanese Grand Prix allowed Joan Mir and Luca Marini to work on the setup of their bikes for Motegi.

Mir started the day with a positive seventh position in free practice, held with the track partially wet at the start of the session. The Repsol Honda Team rider improved by almost 1.5 seconds in the afternoon practice, but was 1.2 seconds off the top spot in 16th position.

Teammate Marini was unable to carry over the good feeling he had last week in Mandalika and was 19th in the first session, 21st in the second, just over 1.6s behind pacesetter Binder.

Saturday sees the second day of practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, which will serve to decide the starting grid for the afternoon sprint race and the main race on Sunday.

2024 Japan GP Practice Results

Statements

Joan Mir:

«Not a bad day, we’re able to see some improvements over the course of the day so we should be happy about that. During the whole day I was able to challenge the top 12 and be in the mix for Q2 which is a positive and shows we are going the right way. In the time attack I wasn’t quite able to put together my perfect lap and we have a couple of tenths if we look at all the best sectors I did. We are still working on improving the vibrations we’ve had for the past few rounds. Tomorrow, we look to make another step.»

Luca Marini:

«A tricky day for me, it’s a feeling I haven’t had before. I had a lot less rear grip than normal and the vibration I am experiencing a lot more than ever before. The last two races we have been able to solve it so we need to understand how the situation is different here. I think we can improve because Taka made a great lap today, so there’s potential to do more here. Now we work to improve more for the weekend.»