MotoGP Catalan GP: Pedro Acosta tops practice, Jorge Martin goes into Q1

Just minutes later, Binder’s factory KTM team-mate Acosta found another two tenths to snatch the top spot, while Tech3’s Enea Bastianini moved up to establish a 1-2-3 for the Austrian manufacturer.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

KTM’s stranglehold was broken in the final 10 minutes, when di Giannantonio responded with a 1m38.905s to go second, before Marquez closed within 0.018s of Acosta on his soft-tyre flying lap.

Despite a flurry of late improvements from other riders, the times set by Acosta and Marquez remained unbeaten, as the Spanish duo completed a 1-2 on home turf. Binder, however, made a late improvement to surge to third place in what was his most competitive session in recent memory.

Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez ended up as the top Aprilia rider in fourth following a late lap, while LCR’s Johann Zarco led Honda’s charge in fifth place. Just 0.079s separated the top five riders, with Fernandez and Zarco finishing one thousandth of a second adrift of each other.

Early pacesetters di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi also found some time late in the session but could only finish sixth and seventh respectively, the former again establishing himself as the top rider within Ducati’s ranks.

Joan Mir rose to eighth on the factory Honda before going down at Turn 10, while Yamaha duo Jack Miller and Fabio Quartararo sneaked into the top 10 late in the session.

The last-minute improvements from Miller and Quartararo dumped Tech3’s Enea Bastianini into Q1, while Bagnaia could also not secure a direct passage into Q2 on a tough day for the factory Ducati rider. Bagnaia remained outside the top 10 for much of the session, and while a late flyer initially promoted him to eighth, he was eventually shuffled down to 12th.

But the biggest shock of the day came courtesy of French GP winner Martin, who ended up 17th and seven tenths off the pace on the factory Aprilia. The 2024 champion was visibly frustrated when he crashed at Turn 2 with three minutes left on the clock. This was the second incident of the day for the Spaniard, who previously suffered a scary crash at Turn 10 in the morning session and had to visit the medical centre for check-ups.

MotoGP Catalan GP - Practice results

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