Many crashes in the decisive Friday practice session – Seven out of eight Ducati riders in the top 10 – Only Pedro Acosta from the KTM camp makes it straight into Q2
Seven of the eight Ducati riders qualified directly for Q2 at the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday. World Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) took the lead with a new Jerez lap record of 1:36.025 minutes
His first rival was Austin winner Maverick Vinales on the Aprilia RS-GP. From the KTM family, only rookie Pedro Acosta (Tech3-GasGas) made it into the top 10, as Brad Binder, Jack Miller and Dani Pedrosa had crashes in the decisive practice session (to the result).
The afternoon session took place under cloudy skies and a cool 20 degrees Celsius. The wind had also picked up a little. In the first run, Marco Bezzecchi (VR46-Ducati) crashed in turn 1 and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Abrilia) crashed into the gravel in the final corner.
Nothing happened to either of them. Moments later, Vinales slipped at the apex of turn 1. He was able to continue immediately on his Aprilia. Most of the riders were working on their race pace with the medium tire at the front and rear.
Only a few tried a long run with the soft rear tire, including Bagnaia. In order to solve the chattering problems, his two Ducatis were set up differently, with a different weight distribution for the front wheel.
After 25 minutes, the Yamaha of former world champion Fabio Quartararo lay in the gravel in the third sector. The Frenchman stomped off. The crash festival continued. At the halfway point, Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) went down in the final corner.
Wildcard starter Pedrosa had the next crash in turn 2, his KTM smashing into the airfence. Pedrosa was fine and was able to walk away. Shortly afterwards, Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse-Aprilia) was hit in the final corner.
Maverick almost saved it at T1
That attempt to avoid the crash deserves a round of applause anyway! SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/y97W4RKXmg
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) April 26, 2024
20 minutes before the end of the session, Vinales opened the time chase with fresh soft tires. On the first attempt, Acosta clamped onto Pedrosa’s rear wheel and was able to study the veteran and Jerez specialist closely.
After Pedrosa/Acosta had completed their flying lap, brand colleague Miller crashed on his first attempt. The Australian was the eighth rider to go down. Nothing happened to him either
Brad Binder crashes on the decisive lap
After the first qualifying attempts, it was once again Vinales against the Ducati riders. The Aprilia spearhead led the classification ahead of Bagnaia, Bezzecchi, Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati).
As always, the decision was made in the final minutes. As the riders tackled their final attempt and were on a fast lap, Binder flew off in the fast turn 7 and caused yellow flags. Many were stripped of this lap time.
In the end, Bagnaia catapulted himself to the top with a new lap record of 1:36.025 minutes, displacing Vinales from first place by a tenth of a second. Marc Marquez also put in a good lap at the end and set the third-fastest time
A proper head-in-hands moment for @BradBinder_33
He’s currently 9th with just a few minutes to go! SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/JHCtHAA1QP
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) April 26, 2024
The two Ducati riders Bezzecchi and Martin followed in fourth and fifth place. Acosta let Bezzecchi pull him around the course in his final attempt and ended up in sixth place. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) secured a Q2 place in seventh.
The top 10 was completed by Bastianini, Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) and Alex Marquez. This meant that seven of the eight Ducati riders went straight into Q2. From the KTM family, only Acosta ultimately made it through.
Binder dropped back to eleventh place due to his crash, Miller and Pedrosa followed in 13th and 14th. The best Yamaha rider was Alex Rins in 15th, while Quartararo was only 20th. In the Honda camp, Takaaki Nakagami was the best rider in 16th place.
There are three wildcards in Jerez. Stefan Bradl is riding a heavily revised Honda. The aerodynamic package is completely new, there is also a new seat and a new chassis. At KTM, Pedrosa is riding with a slightly different engine
What a turnaround from @PeccoBagnaia!
No one can spoil his party at the end of Practice SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/PeuU7VVkaQ
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) April 26, 2024
On his KTM, the wing was also fitted to the front mudguard. Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori has a different ride height system to the regular riders. Yamaha announced the wildcard plans for Cal Crutchlow on Friday: Mugello, Silverstone and Misano.
Qualifying starts on Saturday at 10:50 CEST. The twelve-lap sprint is scheduled for 15:00 CEST tomorrow as usual
Directly qualified for Q2 are:
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)
Maverick Vinales (Aprilia)
Marc Marquez (Gresini-Ducati)
Marco Bezzecchi (VR46-Ducati)
Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati)
Pedro Acosta (Tech3-GasGas)
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia)
Enea Bastianini (Ducati)
Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati)
Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati)
