Joan Mir was fastest on Saturday morning, with Álex Márquez only twenty-two thousandths of a second behind the Honda HRC Castrol rider. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya heated up quickly as riders made their final adjustments in MotoGP Free Practice 2. Read on below for the key moments before you catch up on the qualifying sessions.
Early Mechanical Fault for Oliveira and Bagnaia’s Woes Continues
After Brad Binder’s Practice session performance and Pedro Acosta’s fast pace in Free Practice 1, the Red Bull KTM Factory team carried a lot of momentum with them into the morning. Thirty minutes started counting down on the clock as the riders made their way out for one last run before the qualifying.
Within a few minutes, Miguel Oliveira had to pull off to the side to escape up the slip lane back to the Pramac Yamaha garage. With a ride-height fault, the #88 had no choice but to run beside the bike to return it to the engineers. Francesco Bagnaia still seemed to be struggling with tech and confidence issues, the two-time world champion experiencing one of his worst-performing Friday sessions.
Seventeen Riders Within One Second
As ten minutes of the session neared completion, the riders on track kept within arm’s reach of each other with flying lap after flying lap. The temperature of the track came up significantly, helping the soft rear tyres gain traction. Mir surprised everyone by topping the time sheet with a time of 1:39.119. His time proved unbeatable as he ended his session early to return to the pit lane.
Marco Bezzecchi stayed out, the Aprilia Racing rider in fourth, orbiting a flying lap to return to the garage. Meanwhile, Oliveira made up for lost time, the previous fault having been resolved. The only KTM still out on track was Binder, over a second slower than Mir with his best time.
Late Session Crash and Honda Speed Supremacy
Ten minutes to go, and Alex Rins became another Turn 5 victim for the weekend. The lean angle of the Monster Energy Yamaha Racing machine slipped out from under him, sending both bike and rider into the gravel trap. As the #42 walked back to the pit lane, the rest of the paddock were returning to the Catalonia circuit for their second run of the session.
Fermín Aldeguer was quick to join his BK8 Gresini teammate in the top three. However, he was quickly pushed down by Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman’s personal best time was just over a tenth of the frontrunner’s.
The Top 10
- Joan Mir
- Álex Márquez
- Fabio Quartararo
- Maverick Viñales
- Pedro Acosta
- Fermín Aldeguer
- Fabio Di Giannantonio
- Marc Márquez
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Brad Binder
With the incredible pace from Acosta and Binder on Friday, it seems like KTM are the constructor on the warpath to halt Marc Márquez’s recent winning streak. Performance will matter most in qualifying as we head into the later Tissot Sprint and Sunday’s Catalan GP race. Who will come out on top? Our coverage will keep you updated as the rest of the race weekend progresses.