In Barcelona everything happens on the first day of testing. Espargaro sets the fastest lap of the circuit, the KTMs are very fast, the 2024 Ducatis do well while the 2023s struggle towards Q1. If a good morning starts in the morning…
1:38.562: these i numbers of happiness Of Aleix Espargaro who, in spite of the pension, brings his own Aprilia RS-GP to detach the new record of the track. They had already shown that the Noale bikes had a certain preference for this circuit last year, but no one expected such a result a few hours after the emotional press conference in which the Spanish rider announced his farewell to racing. In a while, not immediately, obviously.
But the first day of testing on the Montmelò circuit they reserved other interesting surprises. Brad Binder falls, gets up, falls again at the same curve but, in the end, finishes with the second chrono of the day just 72 thousandths behind the Aprilia and ahead of the RC16 by Pedro Acosta. He thinks about defending Ducati pride Pecco Bagnaia, fourthfollowed however by KTM Jack Miller: evidently the Austrian company has found a way to bring its drivers back to the top who, in the last races, had shown more opaque performances than usual.
TO completing the top ten of drivers who will compete for the starting grid directly in Q1 are some welcome surprises: the others placed sixth, seventh and eighth three Desmosedici 2024 conducted, in order, by Jorge Martin, Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini. It goes without saying how important the “soft”‘s performance is for him, the team and all its fans. In ninth place another interesting surprise: a Japanese motorcycle. Specifically it concerns the Yamaha by Alex Rinswhich evidently benefited from the tests at Mugello last week while closing the provisional ranking is the second official Aprilia led by Maverick Viñales. Be careful though, because between the two Aprilias there are 496 thousandths and ten riders and things could still change.
THEthe great absentee however is undoubtedly Marc Marquez (twelfth behind his brother Alex), who will have to face Q1 tomorrow together with all the others Ducati 2023 of the team Gresini And VR46. It is difficult to think that this result is the result of chance, evidently the updated version of the Desmosedici manages to make a difference on this route, without taking anything away from the individual riders. Last four classifiedneedless to say, Honda riders with Zarco and Nakagami of the LCR team ahead of the officials Mir and Marini who, above all, boast a gap from the top that varies from 996 thousandths to 1,756, evidently the work carried out at Mugello did not bring the desired results.
MotoGP will return to the Montmelò curbs at 10.10am on Saturday with the last free practice session, while Qualifying will begin at 10.50am.
There Sprint race will start at 3.00 pm and involves twelve breathless laps.
