PRACTICE SESSIONS SET THE STAGE FOR MOTOGP WEEKEND AT CATALUNYA
The opening session of the MotoGP weekend in Barcelona saw intense action right from the start, with riders pushing hard to find early pace at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. Alex Márquez ended FP1 at the top of the timesheets after setting a best lap of 1:39.950, showing strong form early in the weekend.
Behind him, Jorge Martín took second place despite suffering a crash during the session, while Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the top three. The top ten was extremely competitive, with Pedro Acosta finishing fourth even after a fall, followed by Marco Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini, Fermín Aldeguer, Jack Miller, Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco.
In Practice later in the day, the field became even tighter and more intense, with all five manufacturers and eight different teams securing places in Q2. The gap between the fastest riders was only 0.269 seconds, showing just how close the competition was in Barcelona.
Pedro Acosta once again delivered a standout performance, placing his KTM at the top of the Practice session, while Brad Binder completed a strong showing for the team in third place. Alex Márquez stayed competitive by finishing second, continuing his strong weekend pace.
The session was filled with incidents and drama. Ai Ogura crashed at Turn 2 but was able to continue after switching bikes. Alex Rins also fell later in the session at Turn 5. Marco Bezzecchi had a few moments off track but avoided a crash.
The final minutes were decisive. Acosta took control of the session as KTM showed strong pace across the board, while riders like Fabio Di Giannantonio, Johann Zarco, Joan Mir and Raúl Fernández fought for the remaining Q2 positions. At the same time, Jorge Martín suffered a second crash at Turn 2, ending his session early and dropping him into Q1.
Francesco Bagnaia briefly entered the top ten but was pushed out in the final moments, missing direct qualification to Q2. Fabio Quartararo and Zarco both improved late to secure their places.
At the end of the day, Acosta led the overall standings, with Alex Márquez and Brad Binder completing the top three. The field remained extremely tight, with multiple manufacturers in strong positions and very little separating the front runners.
With such small gaps and several big names heading into Q1, Saturday’s qualifying promises to be highly competitive and unpredictable in Barcelona.
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