Aleix Espargaro set the fastest combined time of the two qualifying sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix, the fourth round of the MotoGP season, on Friday, while Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo disappointed and will have to go through the qualifying repechage.
The day was perfect for Aprilia since the Italian team managed a double with the second best time for Maverick Vinales, ahead of a hair (two thousandths) on the gong by his teammate, while the veteran Spanish Daniel Pedrosa, pilot reserve of KTM, created the surprise by achieving the third fastest time.
The big names, on the other hand, struggled in the Andalusian heat since the last two world champions will have to compete in Q1, just like the current leader of the championship, the Italian Marco Bezzecchi. The latter took twelfth place on the handlebars of his Ducati-VR 46, just ahead of Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati), while Quartararo (Yamaha) had to settle for a disappointing 16th time behind the Spaniard Alex Rins (Honda-LCR ), winner of the last Grand Prix in Austin two weeks ago and who fell, without gravity, at the end of the session.
Q1 Saturday morning (10.50 a.m.) will therefore be very expensive and the fight promises to be fierce to win the two tickets for Q2 which will determine the starting grid for the sprint scheduled for Saturday afternoon and the race on Sunday.
Quartararo, who was in contention for a Top 10 spot, made a mistake and nearly crashed on the last lap “trying everything.” “It’s a negative day. We don’t know why we’ve been so slow so we’ll have to find a solution by tomorrow (Saturday) morning. I have never had such a bad feeling here. I didn’t have fun whereas normally it’s a circuit that I love, it’s frustrating”, deplored El Diablo.
“This afternoon I struggled to find speed and consistency. It will be important to understand what happened before qualifying. Honestly, I expected more from my bike today,” said Bagnaia.
