Saturday's MotoGP™ action was underway at the Gran Premio MotoGP™ Guru by Gryfyn de España ahead of the all-important Qualifying and Tissot Sprint. The early-morning conditions were perfect for track running and with the cooler track temperatures it was Miguel Oliveira who took Free Practice honours as the Portuguese rider pipped Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) to the top spot. It's advantage Aprilia going into qualifying with the closest Ducati in 6th position after Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) made it two Aprilias in the top 3 of FP.
Quartararo went top with 20 minutes of the session remaining until the Aprilia armada put on the afterburners as Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) slotted himself behind the Frenchman, with Oliveira hitting the top of the timesheets and moving the benchmark by 0.038s.
Cat-like reflexes from @AleixEspargaro to avoid an unwanted fur track invader ????#SpanishGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/P7UbJSwT8P
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) April 29, 2023
Ten minutes later and there was a factory Aprilia in the gravel trap as Aleix Espargaro went down and out of the session after losing the front at the high-speed turn 11.
He might have dodged a cat on track, but T11 got the better of him ????@AleixEspargaro crashes out with less than 10 minutes to go ⚠️#SpanishGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/u5pRpLARKp
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) April 29, 2023
It was a good session for Yamaha as both the factory riders had all of the Ducati army behind them for the first time in 2023, as Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) put in a late charge to snatch 4th place in the closing stages of the session. Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) flew the flag for Honda to put himself in P5 ahead of Q2, with Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) rounding out the top 6 as the Italian prepares for a competitive Q1 session later on.
Next up for MotoGP™ is qualifying, make sure not to miss out on any of the action as Q1 commences at 10:50 local time with the lights out on the Tissot Spring at 15:00 (GMT +1)
1. Miguel Oliveira - (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP™ Team) - 1:37.229
2. Fabio Quartararo - (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.103
3. Aleix Espargaro - (Aprilia Racing) - + 0.243
4. Franco Morbidelli - (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.283
5. Takaaki Nakagami - (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) + 0.295
6. Marco Bezzecchi - (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.404
7. Brad Binder - (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.410
8. Jorge Martín - (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.414
9. Alex Marquez - (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 0.418
10. Maverick Viñales - (Aprilia Racing) + 0.436