Bikes are back on track in Spain and it was Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) who sat fastest mid-way through the day, but with some incredibly close company as just over a tenth covered the top five completed by Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™). For the full top ten, scroll down!
Here's a quick look at some highlights:
At Aprilia, there wasn’t much on display by mid-way through the session, with work continuing on what they already have. But Aleix Espargaro’s speed was clear, and teammate Maverick Viñales was doing practice starts, practice starts, practice starts whenever possible at the end of each run as he looks to improve his Achilles' heel.
At CryptoData RNF MotoGP™ Team, Lorenzo Savadori is stepping in for the sidelined Miguel Oliveira at the Jerez Test, and there was a little more bad news for the Portuguese rider as it was confirmed he’s suffered a small humerus fracture after the incident on Sunday.
There was a new belly pan on Johann Zarco's Prima Pramac racing bike, with a small inlet on the bottom… and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) was another focusing on starts. There wasn’t much else to see during the morning on any Ducati machinery, but we’ll hopefully have some more information once action ends.
At Yamaha, there were two different chassis for Quartararo and Simon Crafar was confident he’s seen the different one before. Quartararo also rode the weekend with the newer swingarm – and has that at the test – having gone back to a previous version for the start of the season. Some interesting wings also sprouted on Franco Morbidelli’s Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ machine.
At KTM, tech novelties were first seen in the hands of Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) over the weekend and Binder was out on that aero. Our eagle eyes also thought there was a new chassis for Pedrosa. Finally, there was a sidepod that looks more like a vertical panel all the way to the bottom of the fairing. Oh, and someone from Red Bull advanced technologies was spotted in the box…
Our eyebrows were raised at Honda, as pitlane reporter Simon Crafar believes he’s spotted the long-expected Kalex chassis in the hands of Stefan Bradl. There was also some more aero on display from the Japanese giant. Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) was also seen with a chassis used before by Repsol Honda Team’s Joan Mir. There were also new downwash ducts spotted at Honda, and a new winglet on the side of the swingarm.
The top ten:
1. Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia Racing) – 1:37.079
2. Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac Racing) - +0.010
3. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) - +0.031
4. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) - +0.077
5. Alex Márquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) - +0.110
6. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) - +0.163
7. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) - +0.190
8. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) - +0.247
9. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) - +0.290
10. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) - +0.461