With 1min39s402, the Catalan set the fastest time on the first day of MotoGP practice in Barcelona. 0s303 slower, Maverick Viñales was second, with Enea Bastianini rounding out the top three
Aprilia secured a 1-2 finish in the second MotoGP practice session in Barcelona. Aleix Espargaró beat Maverick Viñales in the final moments of the second free practice and secured the top spot on the timesheet on Friday (3) in Catalunya.
Marco Bezzecchi spent much of the session in the lead, but saw his times drop in the final minutes on the Montmeló track. In a hectic end to practice, the home of Noale secured a double, first with Viñales in command, but with Aleix appearing to mark home territory on the last of 19 laps.
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Best of the rest, Enea Bastianini clocked 1min39s890 to take third, 0s488 behind the leader. Francesco Bagnaia is next, ahead of Jorge Martín. Brad Binder moved up at the very end to break the Ducati sequence and take sixth, ahead of Jack Miller.
0s721 slower than the leader, Fabio Quartararo took eighth place, better than Álex Rins. Franco Morbidelli started the weekend well and secured the last place in the top-10.
Qualifying for the Catalunya GP of MotoGP takes place on Saturday at 9:10 AM (Brasilia time).GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.
Find out how MotoGP practice 2 went at Montmeló:
As it happened earlier, the afternoon MotoGP practice session started with sun, heat and dry track. When the riders returned to the track, the thermometers measured 28°C, with the asphalt reaching 54°C. The relative humidity was around 56%, with the wind speed reaching 5 km/h.
Johann Zarco opened the session at the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1min41s420, 0s087 ahead of Fabio Quartararo. Franco Morbidelli was third, ahead of Álex Rins. In the following passage, the Italian-Brazilian briefly took the lead, but was soon overtaken by the Frenchman from Pramac.
Zarco, however, didn't take the lead either, as Marco Bezzecchi went through in 1min40s728 to take the lead. Quartararo settled into third, ahead of Takaaki Nakagami, Pol Espargaró, Enea Bastianini, and Aleix Espargaró.
Morbidelli responded quickly and jumped up to second, less than 0s1 behind his VR46 Pilot Academy teammate. Bez, meanwhile, was coming around and tried to get to 1min40s577 and open the lead, with Brad Binder turning 1min40s759 to separate the two friends and take second place.
On the fifth lap this morning, Pol Espargaró went 1min40s639 and took second place, 0s062 behind Bezzecchi. Zarco moved up to third, ahead of Binder. Francesco Bagnaia and Morbidelli.
After a few minutes of stability on the grid, Aleix Espargaró clocked 1min40s067 and dethroned Bezzecchi by 0s510. Meanwhile, Stefan Bradl had a crash, but escaped without further injury.
Unlike earlier in the day, the hard tires were more present this afternoon, especially at the rear. Zarco, Bagnaia, Morbidelli, Martin and Bastianini were some of the riders who tested the rubber throughout the session.
With just over six minutes to go in the session, Viñales appeared with a soft shoe on the rear and was the first to go under 1min40s. With 1min39s884, the Spaniard took the lead from Aleix, opening a 0s183 margin to form a 1-2 Aprilia.
Maverick put in another good lap in the sequence and extended his lead to 0s362 when he reached 1min39s705. Further back, also with a soft rear end, Oliveira moved up to tenth, 1s199 behind the leader.
In the sequence, Jorge Martin set a lap of 1min40s035 and jumped to second place, 0s330 slower than Maverick. Bagnaia did the same and passed Jorge for second place, reducing Viñales' gap at the top to 0s245. Luca Marini also improved and moved up to seventh, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Enea Bastianini moved up to third, with Jack Miller moving up to sixth ahead of Rins, Morbidelli, and Quartararo. Bezzecchi now rounded out the top-10.
With the clock ticking down, Aleix went 1min39s402 to take command, 0s303 better than Maverick. Bastianini was third, ahead of Bagnaia, Martin, Miller, Quartararo, Rins, Zarco, and Morbidelli.
Brad Binder appeared on the final breather to take sixth, pushing Morbidelli out of the combined top-10. The Italian-Brazilian only didn't lose his place thanks to a cancelled time from Zarco, which gave the #21 back his position.