First day of the final assault on the MotoGP title at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and a frightening tie between the two contenders: Pecco Bagnaia took a silly fall at the end of the morning free practice – without physical consequences, despite the sharp blow on the asphalt -, and Jorge Martín saved a crash in turn 5 at the end of Practice.
For now, the Italian takes a slight moral advantage by commanding the time table, with the Spaniard fifth by three tenths. In these positions in Saturday’s Sprint, Martín could not be champion yet.
cold asphalt
The falls occurred in the morning session and in the afternoon Martín saved the asphalt
The first two sessions on Friday were marked by low temperatures on the Catalan circuit, very unusual when the drivers visit the Montmeló track in May or June. In the morning (13ºC ambient and 14ºC on the asphalt) there were up to five falls, among them that of Pecco Bagnaia, although it was for a strange reason: he lost control of his Ducati at the end of the straight when rolling at low speed and passing him very quickly Viñales’ Aprilia, which caused him to block at the front by absorbing the air from the speed mismatch.
In the afternoon, with the asphalt a little warmer (20ºC), the Practice session had various dominators (Viñales, Morbidelli, Bezzecchi, the one who led the longest), but it was at the end when Martín and Bagnaia showed their cards. The Madrid native left his best lap and the Italian responded in the last breath, lowering Bezzecchi’s best time by 90 thousandths. He surpassed Martín, fifth, by three tenths.
The man from Madrid rode almost the entire session in notable positions, 5th-6th, without jeopardizing his presence in Q2 to compete in the polewhich will be more decisive than ever this year.
However, when he was looking for his best lap with 3 and a half minutes remaining, Martín was about to crash in turn 5, the one he dominates so well by bending at 57º and rubbing his elbow on the ground. On this occasion, the man from Madrid prevented the law of gravity from having its way by lifting the motorcycle at the last moment to save the fall.
They made it to Q2 to compete for pole, in addition to Bagnaia and Martín, Bezzecchi (2nd), followed by Aleix Espargaró (in his last GP as a full-season driver), Zarco, Viñales, Àlex Márquez, Marc Márquez ( 8th), Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini (who will compete for third place in the World Cup in ’93).
The 10 that go to Q2
Practice Classification
Barcelona Solidarity GP Practice Classification
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