Francesco Bagnaia set the best time during prequalifying for the Catalan Grand Prix on Friday, putting pressure on his title rival, Jorge Martin. The official Ducati rider completed a perfect lap, setting a time of 1'38.918, 0.080 seconds better than Marco Bezzecchi. This performance confirms Ducati's dominance on this circuit and places Bagnaia in a strong position for the rest of the operations.
Pecco Bagnaia achieved the best time during the MotoGP class prequalifying sessions at the Montmelò circuit, scene of the Motul Solidarity Barcelona Grand Prix, the 20th and final round of the 2024 MotoGP world championship.
The rider of the Ducati #1 propelled his Desmosedici GP24 to the top with a time of 1'38.918, a time which allowed him to beat his brand partner Marco BezzecchiVR46 Racing Team, by only 0.080s.
Third beat for Aleix Espargarófor his last career race before becoming a tester for
Honda. The pilot Aprilia who “pays” a gap from above 0.107s, ahead of the surprise of the day, Johann Zarco's Honda LCR.
The French pilot managed to bring his RC213V
in fourth position, just 0,279 second of the time established by the three-time World Champion.
The old pilot Ducati Pramac precedes his former teammate Jorge Martinfifth, 0.296 seconds from the top. “Martinator” also had a thrill when the front of his Ducati closed for a moment, the Madrilenian managing to “save” the fall.
The second Aprilia also goes directly to Q2, that of Maverick Viñalessixth. The Venetian company's RS-GP#12 preceded the brothers
Alex and Marc Marquezthe KTM of Team GASGAS Tech3 of Pedro Acosta and the last driver to go directly to the final qualifying phase, Enea BastianiniDucati Factory.
Will have to go through the Q1 trap, among others: Jack Miller, Takaaki Nakagami, Fabio QuartararoAlex Rins, Franco Morbidelli 15e, Luca Marini 16e, Brad Binder, Joan Mir and Raul Fernandez.
What will these qualifications have in store for us, which can begin to definitively write the scenario for this race for the 2024 title? Before you know it, here is the table that summarizes the facts known so far.
| MotoGP™ Barcelona, Spain | 5-2024 | 11-2024 |
| FP1 | 1’39.579 Jorge Martin (See here) | 1'40.501 Takaaki Nakagami |
| Practice | 1’38.562 Aleix Espargaro (See here) | 1'38.918 Francesco Bagnaia |
| FP2 | 1’39.294 Aleix Espargaro (See here) | 1'40,208 Maverick Viñales |
| Q1 | 1'38.208 Fabio Di Giannantonio (See here) | |
| Q2 | 1’38.190 Aleix Espargaro (See here) | |
| Sprint | Espargaro, Marc Marquez, Acosta (See here) | |
| Warm Up | 1'39.505 Enea Bastianini (See here) | |
| Grand Prix | Bagnaia, Martin, Marc Marquez (See here) | |
| Record | 1’38.190 Aleix Espargaro (See here) |
13° in the air and 12° on the track
The pressure is building!!! here we are gathered to experience the Q1 session which will see the 2 best times qualify!
A 15min session, let's go!!!
MotoGP Barcelona Qualifying: standings
