Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport

MotoGP Spanish GP: Bagnaia on record pace in second practice

The reigning world champion has won the Spanish GP for the past two years and comes into the 2024 edition off the back of two disappointing rounds in Portugal and America.

In a crash-strewn session, Bagnaia left it to the end of the hour to produce a 1m36.025s to lead the way by 0.100 seconds from Aprilia’s Vinales.

Marc Marquez looked on course to take top spot from Bagnaia at the end but came up just short with a 1m36.168s to move ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and championship leader Jorge Martin.

The Pramac rider set the early pace in the hour-long afternoon session at Jerez with a 1m37.811s, trading top spot with KTM’s Brad Binder before the South African edged clear with a 1m36.794s inside the first 10 minutes.

Then followed a period of several crashes in quick succession, with Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) and Vinales (Aprilia) sliding off.

Just over halfway into the session, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo came off his bike at Turn 7, with Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Dani Pedrosa (KTM) and Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse) also suffering falls.

With just over 20 minutes remaining, Vinales pushed for an early soft tyre run on his Aprilia and produced a 1m36.482s.

(Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

This was beaten by Martin with a 1m36.435s about eight minutes later, before Vinales returned his Aprilia to the top of the times with a 1m36.125s.

This lap put Vinales underneath the existing lap record, but it would be bested by 0.100s by Bagnaia on his final flying lap at the end of the session.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez completed the top three from Bezzecchi, Martin and Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta – who was the only KTM rider to make it into Q2 qualifying directly.

A costly crash for Binder in the closing stages left him at the fringes of the top 10 and eventually shuffled down to 11th when the field shook itself out.

Aleix Espargaro was seventh on the sister factory Aprilia, with Ducati’s Enea Bastianini, VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez taking the final Q2 spots.

The rest of the KTM contingent in Pedrosa, Jack Miller – who crashed late on – and Augusto Fernandez (Tech3) will join Binder in Q1 on Saturday morning, as will Pramac’s Jorge Martin, both Yamahas and all five Hondas.

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 23

1'36.025

  165.819  
2 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 24

+0.100

1'36.125

0.100 165.646  
3 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 26

+0.143

1'36.168

0.043 165.572  
4 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 20

+0.339

1'36.364

0.196 165.235  
5 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 25

+0.410

1'36.435

0.071 165.114  
6 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 24

+0.414

1'36.439

0.004 165.107  
7 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 20

+0.421

1'36.446

0.007 165.095  
8 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 26

+0.455

1'36.480

0.034 165.037  
9 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 21

+0.511

1'36.536

0.056 164.941  
10 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 24

+0.514

1'36.539

0.003 164.936  
11 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 22

+0.619

1'36.644

0.105 164.757  
12 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 22

+0.686

1'36.711

0.067 164.643  
13 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 22

+0.875

1'36.900

0.189 164.321  
14 Spain D. Pedrosa Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 26 KTM 23

+0.919

1'36.944

0.044 164.247  
15 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 23

+0.934

1'36.959

0.015 164.221  
16 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 24

+0.944

1'36.969

0.010 164.205  
17 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 21

+1.086

1'37.111

0.142 163.964  
18 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 23

+1.252

1'37.277

0.166 163.685  
19 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 24

+1.317

1'37.342

0.065 163.575  
20 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 22

+1.357

1'37.382

0.040 163.508  
21 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 26

+1.451

1'37.476

0.094 163.350  
22 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 23

+1.586

1'37.611

0.135 163.125  
23 Germany S. Bradl HRC Test Team 6 Honda 24

+1.684

1'37.709

0.098 162.961  
24 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 24

+1.813

1'37.838

0.129 162.746  
25 Italy L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team 32 Aprilia 22

+1.877

1'37.902

0.064 162.640  
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.