The Valencia weekend, the decisive act of the 2023 MotoGP, began with Ducati dominating, even if the two title contenders were not ahead of everyone. The Desmosedici GPs monopolized the top four positions in the first free practice session and in the end the best time was set by Johann Zarco.
The French rider, arriving in his last race with the colors of Prima Pramac Racing, fitted a pair of new medium tires on the rear at the end to achieve his 1’30″191. It could be said, however, that Fabio Di Giannantonio started from where he left last Sunday in Lusail.
The winner of the Qatar GP, in fact, finished 187 thousandths of a second from the top, but his 1’30″378 was achieved with the two tires with which he started the session, in the 12th of his 17 laps. In third position then we find Jorge Martin, who at the end also took advantage of a new medium tire on the rear to set a time of 1’30″450 which placed him 259 thousandths of a second behind his teammate.
However, you have to go down to 13th place to find the world championship leader Pecco Bagnaia. The Ducati rider lost a few minutes at the start of the session to modify the configuration of the front brake covers, then he dedicated himself to his usual Friday work, aimed above all at the race. In fact, the Piedmontese paid seven tenths, but used the same pair of tires until the end of the session.
Going back to scroll through the ranking in the top positions, the Ducati poker is completed with Marco Bezzecchi, just under three tenths behind with the Mooney VR46 Ducati, while the first of the “others” is Maverick Vinales with the Aprilia. It must be said, however, that the Roses rider is also the only one to have used the soft rear tire in this first session.
Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez also had a positive start, finishing in sixth and seventh position. If the Yamaha rider mounted a new tire to achieve his 1’30″556. The eight-time world champion, arriving at the last race of his long love story with Honda, finished just 8 thousandths faster back, but wearing the same tires until the end of the session.
Eighth time for the first of the KTMs, which is the GasGas Tech3 one entrusted to Augusto Fernandez. Among other things, the sister bike of Pol Espargaro, who has currently reached the end of his adventure in MotoGP, is in 11th place. The two RC16s of the official team were slower, with Jack Miller 12th and Brad Binder 16th.
In the top 10, however, there is also room for the other two Ducatis of Enea Bastianini and Alex Marquez, with the Spaniard having a crash at turn 1, fortunately without consequences. The two Hondas of Takaaki Nakagami and Joan Mir also ended up on the ground at turn 8, who in fact finished the session in the back-up positions.
The same goes for Aleix Espargaro, who tried to get on his Aprilia despite the fractured fibula head suffered in Qatar, but at the moment he appears very sore and is only 20th. Franco Morbidelli and Luca Marini were also late, finishing this first round in 15th and 17th place respectively.
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