Martin leads Marc Marquez in a perfect start to the Catalan GP

MotoGP™ bikes hit the track for the start of an important weekend at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. Starting the weekend in style was Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), who spent most of the session inside the top five before setting a sensational 1:39.579 in the final five minutes. Martin set an impressive benchmark from Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), who was 0.292s behind in a strong start to what could be a crucial Catalan GP, with talk surrounding the rider market continuing. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the top three positions – improving on his final lap of the session.

Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta was another rider who improved late on and became the final rider inside the 1:39 bracket in Free Practice 1. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) begins an emotional weekend after announcing that he will hang up his leathers at the end of the season. The #41 has a special helmet for this weekend and rounded out the top five on Friday morning. Alex Marquez capped off a strong morning for the Gresini Racing MotoGP™ team in sixth, ending the session ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). Bagnaia was 0.724s adrift from title rival Martin and finished the Free Practice 1 ahead of Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3), who had a great start to the weekend.

Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was ninth after setting a 1:40.361 - in a strong morning for KTM. Rounding out the top 10 was Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) – less than one second from the top spot. Further down the order, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) was down in 19^th after the opening session of the weekend, with some pace to find for Friday afternoon.

The next time that MotoGP™ will be on track will be to battle for direct entry into Q2 at 15:00 local time (UTC +2), so make sure you don’t miss any of the action on motogp.com!

Top 10:

FULL RESULTS!