There is a surprise name in front of everyone at the end of the first day of testing for the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix. The best time on Friday, in fact, was set by Brad Binder, who was able to push his KTM up to a time of 1’43″436. A truly interesting performance if you consider that the rain also fell in the morning on the Motegi circuit, so there certainly weren’t optimal conditions in terms of grip.
The South African driver made the difference especially in T4, but we must not forget that he has always had a special relationship with the Japanese track, on which he placed second both in 2022 and in last year’s Sprint. In general, however, the RC16s seem particularly at ease, because rookie Pedro Acosta also slipped into fourth position, 147 thousandths of a second behind on his GasGas Tech3 branded bike.
Two Ducatis have squeezed in between the two KTMs, those of Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin. The eight-time world champion seemed to be in difficulty in a bit throughout the session, especially when it came to working on his race pace. In the time attack, however, he managed to climb the rankings, finishing just 33 thousandths behind Binder and 99 thousandths ahead of the world leader, who had not yet found the feeling with his Desmosedici GP, but was a constant presence in the top positions for the whole shift.
The same goes for his rival Pecco Bagnaia, even if at the end of the round the reigning world champion found himself seventh in the standings at 318 thousandths. In terms of pace, he and the Prima Pramac Racing rider seemed more or less in the same boat, faster than the others especially when the rear tire started to wear off. It must also be said that on the last lap Pecco arrived at T3 with a red helmet, but then lost a lot in T4, not even managing to improve his 1’43″754.
Also in front of the Piedmontese are his teammate Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales. The rider from Rimini suffered a bad fall at turn 13 in the central part of the session, but fortunately he escaped without consequences and then returned to his Desmosedici GP to place fifth at 169 thousandths. The Aprilia rider, however, made a big difference compared to his brand mates, because he is the only one to have obtained the pass for direct qualification to Q2. Among other things, he beat Aleix Espargaro’s twin RS-GP by eight tenths, which is only 15th.
The picture of the top 10, therefore of the riders who qualified directly for Q2, is completed with another three Ducatis, which therefore brings the contingent of bikes from the Borgo Panigale company in the top ten positions to seven. These are the three GP23s of Alex Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi. Franco Morbidelli’s GP24, 13th, will have to go through Q1 instead, having to give up at least a couple of laps in the final due to the yellow flags.
The first of those excluded from Q2 is Jack Miller, who caused one of those yellow flags by falling at turn 3 (same point where Raul Fernandez, ultimately 18th, also ended up with his wheels in the air) and finds himself 11th ° for just 30 thousandths. Just as Takaaki Nakagami came very close in his first Q2 of the season, 19 thousandths slower than the Australian. The Japanese hoped for the feat in his last home GP as a full-time rider, but at least he took the honor of besting the Hondas with his 12th time.
Unfortunately, Fabio Quartararo’s fears then materialised, as on this “stop and go” track he was afraid that the Yamaha would once again pay for its lack of rear grip. In fact, after three consecutive direct Q2s, the French driver found himself 14th at just under a second and also ran out of fuel immediately after the end of the session, not even having the opportunity to go and carry out the starting tests.
Luca Marini was then in great difficulty, as he did not go beyond the 21st time at 1″6 with his Honda, putting behind him only Lorenzo Savadori, who replaces the injured Miguel Oliveira on the Trackhouse Racing Aprilia, and Remy Gardner , called by Yamaha to compete in a wild card. Finally, we must also point out Johann Zarco’s crash at turn 5, which was another of those that generated yellow flags at the end.
Be careful though because the values could be distorted again tomorrow, because the weather forecast is anything but favourable: the risk of rain is very high throughout the day, therefore both for qualifying and for the Sprint. But that is something beyond the control of teams and riders…
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