MOTOGP FRIDAY ACTION HEATS UP IN VALENCIA
It was a busy Friday in Valencia as MotoGP riders pushed hard from the first minute on track.
FP1
MotoGP returned to Valencia with Jack Miller starting the weekend in the best way possible. His fastest time, a 1:30.382, put him at the top of the first session. He was so fast that even his second-best lap would have been enough for first place. He finished 0.323 seconds ahead of 2024 Moto2 Champion Ai Ogura, who had one of his strongest sessions of the year. Wildcard rider Aleix Espargaro took an impressive third place. Aprilia looked sharp early, with Raul Fernandez also inside the top four. Franco Morbidelli completed the top five.
Alex Marquez led the session early but ended up sixth. Joan Mir followed in seventh, hoping to avoid the technical problems he had in Portimao. Pedro Acosta began his final weekend of the season in eighth, with Fabio Di Giannantonio in ninth. A surprise in tenth was Augusto Fernandez on the V4-powered Yamaha YZR-M1.
Fermin Aldeguer crashed at Turn 4 with five minutes left, but he walked away without injury. He finished the session in 11th. Fabio Quartararo was 14th. Maverick Viñales returned to action with 19th place, just behind Marco Bezzecchi. Francesco Bagnaia struggled in 21st, and newly crowned 2024 World Champion Jorge Martin finished 24th.
FP2
In the afternoon session, Pedro Acosta became the rider to beat. He set a strong lap of 1:29.240, just 0.053 seconds ahead of Marco Bezzecchi. Franco Morbidelli finished in third after a very competitive session.
Bezzecchi led for most of the first half, but things got complicated when he crashed while following Acosta at Turn 4. A few minutes earlier, Ai Ogura had crashed at Turn 3. At the same time, Di Giannantonio and Morbidelli briefly took over the top two spots. Acosta then raised his pace, first going two-tenths faster, then matching his own time on the very next lap.
Fabio Quartararo had a technical problem on the straight, which ended the session for that bike. In the final 15 minutes, Acosta increased his lead to more than half a second. Miller then moved up to second place, but Morbidelli pushed him back to third, although he was still far from Acosta’s fastest lap.
As the clock counted down, the gap shrank. Alex Marquez, Di Giannantonio and Quartararo all jumped ahead of Morbidelli. Bezzecchi then cut Acosta’s lead to 0.236 seconds, and on his next lap, he came within 0.053 seconds of the top spot.
With three minutes to go, Miller returned to the top three. It was a mix of KTM, Aprilia, Yamaha and Ducati near the front, while Bagnaia was still outside the top 10. Things got even harder for him when Ogura suddenly moved from 15th to third. Many riders improved their times, but Bagnaia couldn’t find the lap he needed and missed out on the top 10. Acosta kept P1 with his earlier lap, ending the day as the fastest rider.
Friday Top 10 in Valencia
Alex Marquez finished fourth behind Acosta, Bezzecchi and Morbidelli. Rookie Ogura ended up fifth. Miller was the top Yamaha in sixth. Di Giannantonio finished seventh, with Aldeguer, Mir and Quartararo taking the last automatic Q2 spots.
Only half a second separated the top 14 riders, from leader Acosta to 14th-placed Bagnaia. Even the top 19 were covered by less than one second. It sets up a tight and exciting Saturday with qualifying and the Tissot Sprint.
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