Aleix Espargaro announced his retirement at the end of the season yesterday, but the Aprilia rider seems intent on continuing to leave his mark until the end of his adventure in MotoGP. The Spaniard, in fact, closed the first day of testing for the Catalan Grand Prix ahead of everyone.
And he did it with a record, because with his 1’38″562 he touched the previous record of Pecco Bagnaia. For him, who grew up in Granollers, a few kilometers from the racetrack, it therefore seems like an excellent opportunity to indelibly link his name to his home track, where last year he already achieved a sensational double and to which he dedicated the helmet he is wearing this weekend.
However, the KTMs also seem particularly at ease on the Catalan circuit, with three in the top five positions. Brad Binder undoubtedly deserves a good performance, as he managed to make a great difference to a session that had started in the worst possible way: in the first half, in fact, the South African slipped twice, always at turn 2 .
However, the Mattighofen team’s mechanics did an extraordinary job, managing to restore one of his bikes at least in time for the time attack and Binder repaid them by showing off a 1’38″634 which earned him second position, ahead of the other RC16 of rookie Pedro Acosta, who also seems to have all it takes to fight with the best in Barcelona. Jack Miller also did well in fifth.
The first of the Ducatis is therefore “only” fourth, which is that of the reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia, who finished just over a tenth from the top. The curious thing is that for the first time this season the direct pass to Q2 was only achieved by the GP24s. Behind Miller we find Jorge Martin, Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini, all trailing behind each other by less than three tenths of a second from Espargaro’s best time.
A big problem therefore for Marc Marquez who, after showing a great pace when he worked from a race perspective, was unable to be equally incisive on the time attack and therefore found himself 12th, also behind his brother Alex (who fell at turn 10 in the finale) and forced to pass from Q1 tomorrow morning.
Surprisingly, Alex Rins also slipped ahead of the eight-time world champion, leading the Yamaha with the new aerodynamic package into Q2 with the ninth time, in defiance of his teammate Fabio Quartararo who slipped at turn 5 and did not go beyond the 14th time, paying over three tenths on the twin M1. The last slot for Q2 was then taken by Maverick Vinales, who however for the moment is unable to be as fast as his teammate and pays half a second on his twin RS-GP.
Among those excluded there are also the two standard bearers of the Pertamina Enduro VR46, with Marco Bezzecchi who finished 15th and his partner Fabio Di Giannantonio 17th after being the protagonist of two falls, first at turn 5 and then at turn 9. Again once the Hondas all close the group: the best of the RC213Vs is the one with Johann Zarco’s advanced aerodynamic package, with the Frenchman, however, 19th at just under a second.
The “standard” bikes fared decidedly worse, because Takaaki Nakagami, Joan Mir and Luca Marini all caught more than half a second behind the two-time Moto2 champion. We must also point out the absence of wild card Stefan Bradl on the track: the German was hit by an intestinal virus, but he hopes to be back in the saddle tomorrow. At the end there was also a crash at turn 4 for the GasGas Tech3 of Augusto Fernandez, who in turn will have to go through Q1.
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