Izan Guevara (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) has set the pace in FP1 for Round 9 of the Moto3™ World Championship at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. The Spaniard, who missed out on a thrilling victory a week ago at Mugello due to a final-lap track limits breach, clocked a 1:48.675 in the closing minutes of the opening session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) moved to second with the chequered flag out when he set a 1:48.870, pushing Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) back to third after ‘The Rocket’ went as quick as a 1:48.962 on his Honda.
Jaume Masia was just 0.016 seconds slower again on the second of the Red Bull KTM Ajo entries, 0.103 seconds up on the second Leopard Racing bike of Tatsuki Suzuki. World Championship leader and Italian GP winner Sergio Garcia set a 1:49.392 which was enough for seventh on the timesheet on his Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team entry.
That'll do nicely to start the @AsparTeam's 500th GP! ????@IzanGuevara28 tops #Moto3 FP1! ????#CatalanGP ???? pic.twitter.com/bnXx4N2Iel
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) June 3, 2022
The 40-minute session was mostly incident-free although Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP) was seen in the gravel – upright – at Turn 5 before setting a 1:49.451 which was good enough to be classified eighth. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) had a late spill at Turn 1 – rider okay – having logged a 1:49.919 which saw him ultimately classified 14th.
The Moto3™ field returns to the track for FP2 later on Friday at 13:15 (GMT +2).
Moto3™ FP1 Top 10:
1. Izan Guevara (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) – 1:48.675
2. Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.195
3. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 0.287
4. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.303
5. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) + 0.406
6. Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) + 0.513
7. Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.717
8. Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrustelGP) + 0.776
9. David Muñoz (BOE SKX) + 0.793
10. Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) + 0.841