BAGNAIA FASTEST IN JEREZ, MILLER OUTSIDE TOP 10
Round 4 of the MotoGP World Championship is taking place at the Jerez Circuit in Spain this weekend and Francesco Bagnaia ended the opening day on top of the timesheets.
The factory Ducati man set a 1m 37.209 which was at the time far quicker than anyone else.
Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo improved and came closest to eclipsing his time, however he was still 0.178s off the pace.
Aleix Espargaro highlighted Aprilia’s step forward this season once again and put his Italian machine in third position, 0.437s slower than Bagnaia.
Bagnaia’s teammate, Aussie Jack Miller struggled for one lap pace all day, 0.75s off his teammate in session 2 was only good enough for p12.
Petronas Yamaha man Franco Morbidelli was fastest for much of the session, but his time was beaten by the three front runners late on.
Round 1 winner Maverick Vinales was just behind his Yamaha bandmate in fifth.
Takaaki Nakagami was the fastest Honda rider in sixth, the Japanese rider ended up 0.566s off the pace of Bagnaia.
KTM’s Miguel Oliveira was seventh ahead of Suzuki rider Alex Rins, former championship leader Johann Zarco and practice 1 fast man Brad Binder.
Reigning champion Joan Mir ended the day a frustrating 13th unable to find any one lap speed from his #36 Suzuki.
Both the factory Hondas were also outside of the top 10, Pol Espargaro was 14th with Marc Marquez in 16th.
This is the venue at which Marquez suffered his season ending injury last year, although he was buried in the pack he did not try a qualifying sim on fresh rubber.
Valentino Rossi struggled for pace all day, ‘The Doctor’ ended up 21st on the timesheets, 1.489s off the fastest man, his academy rider Bagnaia.
In the opening 45-minute session it was South African Binder who was fastest, the former 125cc world champion set a 1m 38.013 in the slower session.
This still would have been quick enough to put him p13 in the second session.
Aleix Espargaro was second ahead of Marquez, Bagnaia and championship leader Quartararo.
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