On the evening of May 24th, Beijing time, all MotoGP Catalan GP Friday sessions came to a close. In the GP class practice that determined the ten direct entries to Q2, Espargaro, who had just announced his retirement, took pole position with a track record-breaking lap of 1 minute 38.562 seconds. Martin and Bagnaia were among the key riders securing their places in Q2, while the Marquez brothers surprisingly failed to make it into the top ten at their home race.
In the first GP session, held locally in the morning, Martin claimed the fastest lap of 1 minute 39.579 seconds in the closing moments to take the lead. Marc Marquez, Binder, Acosta, and Espargaro followed in second to fifth positions. Most riders successfully completed their testing objectives, with Binder causing a brief yellow flag towards the end of the session due to running off the track.
Before the session, Honda confirmed that Bradl, competing as a wildcard this weekend, would miss the practice due to a stomach virus. They hoped he would recover in time for Saturday’s races. Wishing Bradl a quick recovery and successful participation in the remaining events of the week.
At 2 p.m. local time, the GP practice began. Miller, a KTM factory rider, set the fastest lap of 1 minute 39.212 seconds within less than eight minutes. Binder and Acosta from the GasGas team briefly put KTM in the top three positions. However, Binder soon crashed at Turn 2.
Quartararo, a Yamaha rider, also briefly occupied fourth place on the timesheet before crashing at Turn 5. Binder, back on track, crashed again at Turn 2 on his first flying lap! The South African rider damaged his spare bike, forcing his mechanics to rush repairs to prevent an early end to his practice session.
Less than three minutes later, VR46’s Di Giannantonio also fell at Turn 5 where Quartararo had crashed earlier. Riders were pushing the limits of both their bikes and the track.
After more than half the session focused on long runs, a group led by Marc Marquez switched to fresh soft tires to battle for the top ten Q2 spots. Vinales briefly topped the leaderboard with a 1 minute 39.121 lap. As riders changed tires, a lap-fest ensued: Martin improved the benchmark to 1 minute 38.793 after two consecutive fast laps. Di Giannantonio had his second crash of the session at Turn 9, ending his practice early due to damaging his only remaining bike.
Acosta continued his impressive performance, setting a time just 0.011 seconds behind Martin and climbing to second place. Quartararo, not changing tires with the majority, could only improve his position to eleventh on track.
The KTM team managed to repair Binder’s bike, allowing him to participate in the final push. Espargaro, boosted by his retirement announcement and home crowd support, set the fastest lap of 1 minute 38.562, 0.077 seconds faster than Bagnaia’s previous track record! Meanwhile, Binder, Linus, Morbidelli, and Bastianini secured their places in the top ten, pushing the Marquez brothers out of contention.
In the last flying laps, Alex Marquez and Fernandez crashed, resulting in local yellow flags except for the first sector. Most riders couldn’t improve their times, and Espargaro maintained his pole position. Binder, Acosta, Bagnaia, Miller, Martin, Morbidelli, Bastianini, Linus, and Vinales qualified directly for Q2, separated by a mere 0.496 seconds.
The Marquez brothers and VR46’s Di Giannantonio and Bezecchi missed the top ten. Ducati had four bikes starting from Q1. Quartararo, who didn’t follow his teammate’s strategy, also missed the direct Q2 chance with an unsatisfactory last lap. Honda’s performance was disappointing, with their four riders finishing in the last four positions.
Moto2 Class
Jorge Navarro of Forward Racing surprised with the fastest lap of 1 minute 42.807, while his teammates Escrig and Aragones placed 31st and 32nd. Roberts and Daniel Munoz followed in second and third positions.
Gonzalez of the QJing Gresini team was fourth, with Aguirre, who will move up to GP next year, in fifth. Arenas, another QJing rider, was eleventh, alongside Guavara in the direct Q2 positions.
Moto3 Class
David Alonso of the CFMOTO Aspar team continued his unstoppable form. After setting a track record in free practice with a lap of 1 minute 46.838, Alonso topped the session again with a fastest lap of 1 minute 46.897. Alonso has now unbelievably claimed first place in 16 of the last 17 Moto3 sessions! His teammate Estandian was twelfth, also within the direct Q2 zone. However, the gap from Alonso to 14th-placed Kirschgasser was just 1.021 seconds!
(Edited by Asan)