MotoGP Race And Practice Results

Considering the pleasingly small gaps separating riders in practice, there were plenty of them eager to get some early brownie points (and/or birthday presents) in qualifying. None more so than Marc Marquez, the world champion already down into the 1:36s on his first lap, nudging the all time lap record but not quite getting there. While the Honda man’s trademark two-stop strategy was unfolding, Franco Morbidelli became his closest threat, the Petronas rider coming as close as four hundredths of a second from pole. Meanwhile, teammate Fabio Quartararo went stealth at the start of the session only to attack the lap record on his final run, snatching an extraordinary first pole position in the premier class as the youngest rider to do so, robbing Marquez in more ways than one.

Just as outstanding was Petronas Yamaha’s one-two on the front row once Morbidelli also got the best of Marquez at the checkered flag, an amazing achievement for a young satellite team on only its fourth race. The reigning world champion had a tame few slides by his standards that hindered his final charge but Marquez stayed on the front row, nine hundredths of a second slower than the Yamaha duo. Andrea Dovizioso will be opening row two ahead of Maverick Viñales as top factory Yamaha and top Q1 escapee, followed by LCR’s Cal Crutchlow.

Danilo Petrucci could not repeat his practice performance and had to settle for seventh after a late tip-off in turn one. Takaaki Nakagami’s Honda and Alex Rins’ Suzuki filled in a diverse row three while one row behind, Pecco Bagnaia showed the way after being the one to push Valentino Rossi out of Q2. Jorge Lorenzo’s birthday present was one of those that distant relatives get you rather than what you actually want: an 11th grid position after a fall at turn 2 in the final three minutes. Joan Mir will be closing row four, while Rossi will have to pull off another excellent comeback from fifth row.

Results:

A few extra degrees were added to the thermometer reading by the time the first qualifying session of the day unfolded but the lightly grey clouds were here to stay. The lightweight class opened proceedings with Niccolo Antonelli getting a taste for top spot without the familiar additional off-roading and proclaiming himself the early leader of Q2. Compatriot Celestino Vietti soon demoted him and the young Italian was leading as the calm before the storm set in.

Once the final time attack kicked off, Aron Canet’s machine was the first to blink and the Spaniard had to pull off with a mechanical and miss his shot at the second time attack. Meanwhile, his rivals were demoting him down the timesheets, with Antonelli looking set to take pole until a mistake in the final turn slowed him down. However, pole position on Spanish ground stayed with Italy, Lorenzo Dalla Porta scoring his very first pole and will hope to break the jinx of no winners from pole in Jerez. Tatsuki Suzuki was unlucky to miss out on top honours by only four thousandths of a second, while fellow Q1 qualifier Vietti completed the front row line-up.

Antonelli was forced to settle for fourth, starting ahead of compatriot Dennis Foggia and FP3 leader Gabriel Rodrigo. Despite the poorly timed mechanical, Canet got to keep seventh position and will share third row with home favourite Marcos Ramirez and Albert Arenas, whose return to action after missing two rounds due to injury was rewarded with ninth position on the grid.

Romano Fenati failed to dazzle this time around and could only round out the top ten, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki and Jakub Kornfeil. Andrea Migno survived Q1 to line up 13th on the grid, showing the way to John McPhee and championship leader Jaume Masia. Some casualties of Q1 were Tony Arbolino, Alonso Lopez and Darryn Binder, who will have to rely on an excellent start to bring them back into contention.

Results:

Overcast and cooler conditions offered the perfect conditions for the premier class to fight for Q2 honours and some were more eager to get going than others. Alex Rins put in a banker lap on softs early on to join the provisional top ten while Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha thrived in the conditions to also take a massive step on the timesheets, from 14th to 6th. However, Marc Marquez was keen to keep the spotlight on himself and immediately took over at the top on a medium-hard tyre combination. With those the only early changes in the timesheets, riders turned their focus back on race setup, despite conditions not being particularly relevant for race time.

Things were going to plan until Cal Crutchlow went down quite rapidly at turn 9 and the session was red flagged to fix the air fence with 17 minutes left on the clock. The British rider was unharmed and did not miss too much track time as he could restart with the rest of his colleagues. With most of the grid on soft rubber in preparation for a time attack, the battle started early and the initial exchanges were between Fabio Quartararo and Danilo Petrucci, who traded lap records.

However, there was enough time for one final time attack that unleashed chaos, the top 10 changing names every other second. Petrucci was the biggest winner, the Italian setting the first ever lap in the 1:36s on a MotoGP bike in Jerez. Marquez came up short by half a tenth, while Quartararo kept a very dignified top three position. Andrea Dovizioso and Joan Mir posted identical times in fourth and fifth, with Rins dropping to sixth but only three tenths off the leader. The Suzukis were followed by the Hondas of Takaaki Nakagami and Cal Crutchlow, while Franco Morbidelli and Jorge Lorenzo snatched the final top ten positions.

Birthday boy Lorenzo was one of the first out the gates and he scored a rodeo moment at newly named Pedrosa Corner, a brief stint at the top and eventually just about held on to a Q2 place ahead of unlucky Valentino Rossi. The Italian missed out by only four hundredths of a second and will have to battle Jack Miller, The Espargaro duo and an anonymous Maverick Vinales in Q1.

Results:

Despite a small delay with the start due to a late red flag in the MotoGP session, the intermediate class riders were eager to go out and brave the heat. While the FP1 benchmark took some beating, Tetsuta Nagashima was the fastest man on track for much of the session, dethroning FP1 leader Jorge Navarro. Fresh rubber came out of its heaters for the final five minutes and it made a massive difference to the timesheets. Marcel Schrotter was the main beneficiary, the Dynavolt rider leading the way from Alex Marquez, who missed out on top honours by only one hundredth of a second. Meanwhile, Navarro failed to improve due to a crash at turn 11 in the final couple of minutes and dropped to third.

Augusto Fernandez kept spirits up in the Flexbox HP 40 team with a fourth place and less than half a tenth keeping him away from top spot. Nagashima did not manage to go faster than his early benchmark and settled for fifth, while Bo Bendsneyder and Tom Luthi made an appearance in sixth and seventh positions. Fabio Di Giannantonio, Sam Lowes and Remy Gardner added to the list of names that missed out on top positions in FP1 but made a recovery to complete the top ten for the afternoon session.

No such luck for Luca Marini and Brad Binder in 11th and 12th spots, although both riders finished the session barely four tenths away from the leader. Coming from a challenging FP1 session, Lorenzo Baldassarri’s afternoon did not get much better with a fall at turn two in the final 15 minutes. Regardless, the Italian climbed into 13th place, faster than the likes of Enea Bastianini and a very subdued Xavi Vierge.

Results: