The Aprilias made their voices heard on the first day of testing for the Indonesian Grand Prix, with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales monopolizing the top two positions at the end of the afternoon session on Friday on the Mandalika track.
Not even a crash at turn 10, which occurred about fifteen minutes from the end, managed to curb the fury of the Granollers driver, who then returned to the track and set a time of 1’30″474, a new track record. with which he trailed Vinales’ RS-GP twin by 154 thousandths.The Noale bike, therefore, confirmed itself as very suitable for low grip conditions and long, fast corners.
The big revelation of the day was without a doubt Marco Bezzecchi, who arrived in Mandalika just 5 days after a collarbone operation, but who went on track as if nothing had happened. The Mooney VR46 rider was in fact the best among the Ducati riders, managing to finish third fastest, just 170 thousandths from the top, making him the only one capable of really staying close to the Aprilias.
Brad Binder’s KTM moved into fourth position right at the end, with the South African managing to put a nice patch to a session that hadn’t started exactly in the best way: after a few minutes he had gone wide at turn 11 and at that same moment Augusto Fernandez, ultimately 18th, slipped and literally knocked him down. Fortunately, however, there were no consequences for both.
But let’s get to the two main contenders for the title, who didn’t have an easy day. Jorge Martin hasn’t looked like the steamroller of recent weekends, struggling with the front of his Prima Pramac Racing Ducati, but in the end he still managed to get into fifth place, albeit four tenths behind.
It didn’t go as well for world champion Pecco Bagnaia, who returned to having major problems stopping his Desmosedici GP. Between braking errors, the last one on the last lap (Joan Mir, who was following him, also crashed at that moment), and yellow flags, the Ducati rider was unable to complete a single lap in the final time attack and therefore finds himself 16th ° and forced to pass from tomorrow’s Q1.
Having to get to grips with new asphalt, which today offered very little grip, instead benefited Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo who, as in India, managed to get through to Q2. The Honda rider, betrothed to Gresini Racing, finished sixth at 632 thousandths. The Frenchman from Yamaha, however, stayed inside by a whisker, finishing tenth and beating Pol Espargaro’s GasGas Tech3 by just 47 thousandths.
The good form of the Aprilias is also confirmed by the seventh time of Miguel Oliveira for the colors of RNF Racing, while it is surprising that on this occasion only three Ducatis achieved direct access to Q2, but also the fact that the third is that of Fabio Di Giannantonio who seems to have found the feeling now that his adventure at Gresini Racing has come to an end.
The Roman driver is eighth, ahead of Jack Miller who obtained Q2 despite having crashed twice: first at turn 11, probably also due to an obstacle from Enea Bastianini, and then at turn 1 in the final. This means that, in addition to Bagnaia, there will be three other Italians in Q1: Luca Marini, also returning from the broken collarbone suffered in India, is 12th, Franco Morbidelli is 15th, while Bastianini is even 20th.
The official Ducati rider, who in turn was out of action due to the maxi-rambola in Barcelona, in which he fractured his left hand and left ankle, fell at turn 11 on the launch lap of the time attack, so he too was unable to improve yourself. Finally, it is worth mentioning the absence on the track of Alex Marquez, who raised the white flag because he is still too sore from the three fractured ribs in India.
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