Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) the fastest man and once again the best of all Ducati riders at the Circuito de Cataluña on Friday, three of whom, like Yamaha, made it into the top ten on the first day.

The Ducati spearhead in front of 2 Yamahas – Zarco fastest

The morning in FP1 was almost monotonous when only Aleix Espargaró improved his position in the second half, while there had been hardly any changes in the front seats. But it was clear that in the afternoon most of the people would blow to hunt for a quick time and so it happened. As we experienced during our live blog, this time it was almost only really exciting in the last few minutes. In MotoGP it was again shown that a time achieved early is often of very little value. A good example of this was Marc Marquez, who was initially one of the top five.

In the Monster Energy Box with Silvano Galbusera (left) and Maverick Viñales – instead of Esteban Garcia, the team is trying it out with the experienced Italian as the new crew chief of the Catalan and the collaboration seemed to be bearing its first fruits so far. A solid sixth place in FP2 gives hope for the weekend.

The battle for the top ten places
While the Repsol Honda man obviously shot his powder early on, things got really colorful at first and in the end it was Johann Zarco who led the ranking. With his compatriot Fabio Quartararo, you had the impression that the young Frenchman was not giving his last. Nevertheless, the Monster Energy Yamaha rider was third fastest behind Franco Morbidelli in front of a surprisingly strong Binder, Bagnaia and Viñales on only third-best Yamaha, but still in the top six. In front of the surprise man and rookie Enea Bastianini, Miller finished seventh and the last two places for the provisional Q2 belonged to the two “asparagus brothers” Aleix and Pol. Except for Suzuki with the lone warrior Mir, all manufacturers were represented in the top ten. Below is the ranking list with the drivers in italics who need an improvement on Saturday morning to move into Q2.

P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap
1, 5, Johann ZARCO, 350.6, 1’39.235,
2, 21, Franco MORBIDELLI, 341.7, 1’39.256, 0.021 / 0.021
3, 20, Fabio QUARTARARO, 343.9, 1’39.401, 0.166 / 0.145
4, 33, Brad BINDER, 348.3, 1’39.662, 0.427 / 0.261
5, 63, Francesco BAGNAIA, 347.2, 1’39.760, 0.525 / 0.098
6, 12, Maverick VIÑALES, 342.8, 1’39.821, 0.586 / 0.061
7, 43, Jack MILLER, 349.5, 1’39.914, 0.679 / 0.093
8, 23, Enea BASTIANINI, 345.0, 1’39.977, 0.742 / 0.063
9, 41, Aleix ESPARGARO, 345.0, 1’39.983, 0.748 / 0.006
10, 44, Pol ESPARGARO, 349.5, 1’39.983, 0.748
11, 30, Takaaki NAKAGAMI, 342.8, 1’40.032, 0.797 / 0.049
12, 9, Danilo PETRUCCI, 343.9, 1’40.060, 0.825 / 0.028
13, 10, Luca MARINI, 341.7, 1’40.094, 0.859 / 0.034
14, 88, Miguel OLIVEIRA, 346.1, 1’40.096, 0.861 / 0.002
15, 93, Marc MARQUEZ, 346.1, 1’40.120, 0.885 / 0.024
16, 36, Joan MIR, 345.0, 1’40.150, 0.915 / 0.030
17, 27, Iker LECUONA, 345.0, 1’40.251, 1.016 / 0.101
18, 73, Alex MARQUEZ, 346.1, 1’40.690, 1.455 / 0.439
19, 46, Valentino ROSSI, 343.9, 1’40.836, 1.601 / 0.146
20, 32, Lorenzo SAVADORI, 340.6, 1’40.981, 1.746 / 0.145
21, 89, Jorge MARTIN, 348.3, 1’41.243, 2.008 / 0.262

Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama Ducati) was the sensation of the first day, with his eighth best time before countless big names provisionally qualified for Q2.
Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) is back for the first time since his fall in Portugal – for the time being, however, the Spaniard took it easy on the first day and limited himself to 21st and last place on the first day.

Ducati and Yamaha very strong – Suzuki and KTM raise questions

With Marc Marquez, everything from top three to P15 would not have been a surprise, in the end he was second and therefore ahead of the best and only Suzuki with Joan Mir. Its problems caused worry lines in the blue box because there is now a risk that the reigning world champion might have to take the detour via Q1 to make it into the second qualifying, if at all. While Pol Espargaró was the best Honda this time and thus the only one just barely in the top ten, which Takaaki Nakagami had missed by almost five hundredths. So Honda is definitely not in as bad a position as some prophecies of doom want to talk it about again and again. The situation at KTM is completely different, where the supposed figurehead Miguel Oliveira stumbled significantly after finishing 2nd in Mugello this time with P14 when it came to provisional direct entry into Q2. The rescue came through Brad Binder, who surprised with a strong fourth place. In this respect, besides Suzuki, KTM is most likely to raise questions about the hoped-for confirmation of an upward trend.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) made a sensationally strong impression with P2 on Friday after his no-fault bad luck in Mugello, when Marc Marquez’s fall had cost him all chances of a good result.

Circuito de Cataluña

World Championship stand in all classes after the 6th round at Mugello

Catalonia Grand Prix schedule

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).