Catalan GP practice results

The MotoGP World Championship returns to Spain for the eleventh round of the season, and the first day in Barcelona concluded with Aleix Espargaró in first position on the timesheets, going fastest in both the morning and afternoon sessions. Behind him, his Aprilia teammate, Maverick Viñales, finished 3 tenths slower. Completing the leading trio was the leader of the MotoGP World Championship and current World Champion, Pecco Bagnaia, also three tenths behind (tres décimas más de Viñales?)

More than half a second back was the rest of the ten fastest riders, who qualify directly for Q2: Johann Zarco, Brad Binder, Álex Márquez, Marco Bezzechi, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martín.

On Saturday, the riders will have a final free practice session before Q1 and Q2 and then will prepare their bikes for the sprint race.

First testing at home track for Marc Márquez and Joan Mir

The Repsol Honda Team riders continued with the adaptation of their new aerodynamic package to their Honda RC213V. Marc Márquez, who had a crash in the morning session at Turn 5, ended the day in 19th position, 1.563s off the best time. Joan Mir – who turned 26 on Friday – concluded the day in 22nd position, 2.327s off the top.

Catalan GP Practice Results

Statements

Marc Márquez:

“Today was about focusing on ourselves, I didn’t feel bad on the bike. In the morning I made the same mistake as in Austria when I was comparing the new parts, especially with aerodynamics the bike changes a lot. In the afternoon we worked on our base and our pace, I feel good but we are far from the top. Tomorrow the objective is to achieve our best and keep working.”

Joan Mir:

“We were expecting it to be difficult this weekend because Montmeló is a circuit that’s always very critical for grip, the corners are very long and you need to manage the spin with the throttle. This year, this is the area we have been working on the most so we have to keep working on that here as well. I spent the day working on the setup of the bike. The goal for tomorrow is to improve the feeling so we can push more.”