Aleix Espargarò will retire at the end of the season but, for the moment, don’t tell him. In fact, the landlord placed the best time in the pre-qualifying of the Catalan Grand Prixthe sixth round of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship. On the Montmelò track we witnessed a session which, as per tradition, in the early stages saw the riders working on set-up and tyres, then in the finale the time attacks took center stage.
On the hot asphalt of the track located about twenty kilometers from Barcelona, the reference performance bears the signature of Aleix Espargarò (Aprilia) trying to repeat the perfect weekend from a year ago, clocking a 1:38.562 (new track record) with a margin of just 72 thousandths over the South African Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) who, despite a couple of crashes, showed an excellent feeling with his bike. Third time for the Spaniard Pedro Acosta (Gas Gas Tech3) at just 73 thousandths.
Fourth position, however, for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Factory). The two-time world champion closed with a good progression just 133 thousandths from the top, but suffered in T4, a sector in which he lost all of his gap. In fifth position we find the Australian Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) at 140 confirming the goodness of the Austrian bike, so he is sixth Jorge Martin (Ducati Pramac) at 231 thousandths, less bright than in the morning.
Seventh time for Enea Bastianini (Ducati Factory) 252 thousandths behind Espargarò, therefore eighth for a breakthrough Franco Morbidelli (Ducati Pramac) at 269, therefore ninth Alex Rins (Yamaha) at his first seasonal leap (+0.481), while completing the top10 Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) at 496. Only 12° Marc Marquez (Ducati Gresini) who does not yet demonstrate that he is at ease.
He stops in 14th position Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) at 790 thousandths, therefore only 16° Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati Pertamina VR46) still on the high seas with his GP23 (+0.820), so his teammate is behind him Fabio Di Giannantonio at 917, while it is desolately 22nd Luca Marini (Honda Repsol) at 1,756.
