Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) dominated qualifying practice for the Barcelona GP this Friday while leader Jorge Martin only finished fifth.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) has not said his last word! The Italian dominated the qualifying tests for the Barcelona GP on Friday, while the leader of the MotoGP world championship, the Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac), had to settle for fifth fastest time.
With 24 lengths behind the Madrilenian at the dawn of the last round of the season where 37 points remain to be distributed, the double title holder from Turin will have a hard time achieving the hat-trick, but he still put the pressure on on his opponent during this first day of driving on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit in Montmelo.
A little behind (7th) in the morning during the first free practice session contested in fairly cool conditions and won to everyone's surprise by the Japanese Takaaki Nakagami (Honda-LCR), Bagnaia pressed the accelerator in in the afternoon to appear at the top of the timesheet.
“The day was complicated”
“I'm very happy with the day because the track conditions are very different from the last race here in May, and we adapted well. I have no choice, I have to be very strong every weekend to hope for anything”underlined the Italian. Martin, for his part, achieved the fifth fastest time in the morning and did not manage to improve this ranking in the afternoon despite a few degrees more.
“The day was complicated even if my pace seems good. My sensations were strange and I lacked grip with the rear tire. But I will remain calm and remember the positive because I know which direction to go for qualifying on Saturday.”explained the Madrilenian.
The tension was palpable on Friday among the two candidates for the title. Thus Bagnaia showed signs of annoyance several times, missed his attempt to start and fell a few seconds later after being surprised by the Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) who passed near him at high speed at the end of the race. the pit straight.
Martin was unable to adapt to the relatively cold conditions and tried several types of tires, without success. However, he remains in a strong position with his comfortable lead in the championship. Friday afternoon, the Spaniard was even beaten by the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Honda-LCR), surprising fourth who won his ticket for the second part of qualifying (Q2) which determines the first 12 places on the starting grid the sprint on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Related News :