On his Ducati-Pramac, the strong man of the day beat the defending champion, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and the 19-year-old Spanish nugget Pedro Acosta, driver of the French GasGas Tech3 team.
Buoyed by the cheers of his audience, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) took the tenth best time in the session held under the sun and 25 degrees – a heat which in no way foreshadows the weather conditions of the weekend, with a risk of rain and thunderstorms expected on Sunday for the race.
“I have really reached my limits” explained the 2021 world champion. “But what matters is not so much 10th place (…), it is above all that we are less than 2/10th” the fourth, the Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), he also defended.
The drivers who achieved the ten best times in this session participate directly in the second qualifying session (Q2), which will determine on Saturday morning the first twelve places on the starting grid for the sprint (Saturday at 3:00 p.m.) and the GP on Sunday (2:00 p.m.).
