Solidarity GP Practice Results

The first day of practice at the MotoGP Solidarity Grand Prix took place on Friday. Back in Europe after several rounds in Asia, the World Championship started the last round of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

After an uncertain start to the day in terms of conditions, the MotoGP class Free Practice 1 was much wetter and colder than a few months ago at the Catalan Grand Prix. However, the best times were also much slower, something that improved substantially throughout the afternoon Practice.

Dominant from the first moment of Practice, Marco Bezzecchi quickly established himself as the man to beat. Behind him, Alex Márquez, Pedro Acosta and the two title contenders wanted to ensure their presence in Q2. In the final part of the session, Pecco Bagnaia snatched the best overall time, with Bezzecchi and A. Espargaró also in the Top 3.

The rest of the riders who go directly into Q2 are: Zarco, Martín, Viñales, A. Márquez, M. Márquez, Acosta and Bastianini.

Marini and Mir faster than at Catalan GP

The Repsol Honda team riders, Luca Marini and Joan Mir, finished in 16h and 18th on Friday. Although neither claimed a place in Q2, both managed to improve the times they set at the Catalan GP, when the track conditions were more favourable.

Marini made progress throughout the first day of the season finale. The Italian, with a best time of 1:41.359, was able to round off the Top 10 in the morning session. In Practice, he steadily improved his time to take a 1:39.994, for 16th.

Mir also improved in the afternoon, having set a 1:41:717 in Free Practice. He quickly lowered his time by several tenths at the start of Practice to fight for the Top 10. When pushing late on, he suffered a small crash when on course to clock a new best time, and finally had to settle for a 1:40.125.

FP2 and the last Q1 of the season take place on Saturday before the Sprint Race.

2024 Solidarity GP Practice Results

Statements

Joan Mir

«I crashed with my second tyre in the ‘qualifying’ of today which certainly limited how competitive we were. Tonight, we need to check what happened and compare the second tyre, I was feeling strong with the first tyre and make a pretty good lap. The performance of the bike improved over the course of the day but we still have a bit of work to do with the rear grip. There’s margin to improve and I think we can make quite an interesting Qualifying tomorrow. It will be important to see how the temperature and grip changes from today to tomorrow.»

Luca Marini

«Overall we have been able to have a productive day and understand the situation of our weekend, good to start building the base. With the soft tyre the grip is unbelievable, especially in the first lap, where I have felt the track conditions a bit strange. I think it will keep improving as the weekend goes on. The performance of Zarco and also Taka [Nakagami] are very encouraging for us, it shows that there is speed and potential in our package and we just need to keep working to unlock it all.»