Francesco Bagnaia set the pace on the first day of the MotoGP Solidarity GP of Barcelona. On Friday, the 2022 and 2023 champion topped the Practice session by a slim margin.
After the initial flying laps, Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) was in the lead, holding a 0.318s advantage over Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), with Enea Bastianini (Ducati) in third. The leaderboard soon shifted as Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46/Ducati) climbed to the top, with Bagnaia staying in second.
Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati), Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM), and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) also moved into the top five during the opening 10 minutes. By the 15-minute mark, Bezzecchi held a 0.157s lead over Álex Márquez, with Acosta 0.159s behind in third.
The order at the top remained unchanged until the session’s second half when Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) took second place. In the final 15 minutes, Martín set the fastest lap of the day at that point, while Bastianini moved into third. Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) also showed strong pace during this phase.
Following his teammate Takaaki Nakagami’s impressive performance in Free Practice 1, Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) jumped to the top of the timesheets with nine minutes remaining. However, the fastest laps came later.
With less than two minutes to go, Bagnaia (Ducati) secured the top spot by being 0.080s faster than Bezzecchi, who also improved at the same time. Espargaró moved into third, and the top three remained unchanged until the end of the session.
Zarco finished fourth, ahead of Martín in fifth, with Viñales in sixth. Brothers Álex and Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) secured seventh and eighth positions, respectively, just ahead of Acosta. Bastianini claimed the final direct qualification spot for the second qualifying in tenth, a mere 0.021s ahead of Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM).
Tempos:
⚔️ @PeccoBagnaia won't give up the #1 play without a fight!
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 15, 2024
He tops Practice ahead of Bezzecchi and @AleixEspargaro ⚡️@88jorgemartin ends the day in 5th ahead of his match point tomorrow 👀#SolidarityGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/hTT7jDkUMw
