Recapping the MotoGP/2/3 action from Aragon on Friday

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round 12 – Aragon – Gran Premio GoPro de Aragon
Friday

Marc Marquez – P1

“It’s only Friday, so we must keep both feet on the ground as I’m sure it’ll be a lot tighter tomorrow. The goal is still to make it on the front row, we’ve been very comfortable on the bike since Austria and I feel good at this track. Today’s conditions were also perfect for me so I repeat: it’s only Friday.”

Aleix Espargaro – P2

“I’m very happy to see four Aprilias in the top ten; it’s a very positive sign. In FP1, the track was very dirty, which made things difficult, but in practice, I gave it all. This year, I feel that when everything is in place, I can perform at a very high level.”

Maverick Vinales – P3

“The feeling with the new asphalt is strange, you feel like you’re slipping all the time, but as soon as you open the throttle there’s a lot of grip. The feeling with the bike is very good and I feel comfortable. We can still improve, but we were already very fast. It’s not easy to overtake here, so it will be important to start at the front.”

Alex Marquez – P5

“The direct seed to Q2 saved the day. We had a technical problem at the start of the session, which prevented me for trying all we had planned to try. The feeling is not ideal on a track that has been recently resurfaced, and I’d have needed more time. That’s why I’m happy with fifth place, but it’s clear that there’s still plenty of work to be done.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P6

“Unfortunately, after basically losing the morning session, we struggled to find the right direction. The one we took turned out to be the wrong one, then we went the opposite way. We managed to make a big step forward in the last run with the used medium tyre – as I improved by 0.7secs. When we put the soft tyre on the grip was a lot higher, maybe more than I expected. I lost some time in the last sector of the final lap due to a yellow flag, but still we managed to finish sixth; after all, in hindsight, it was a positive day.”

Johann Zarco – P8

“Today’s result is like a small victory for us, but I want to keep my feet on the ground because the important sessions are tomorrow’s qualifying and Sprint and then the race on Sunday. In any case, it’s been the best practice of the season so far. The track conditions were strange, but I expected that because I’ve trained here. Regarding the time attack, it was good! The new engine has helped me when using the new tyre, which is positive. We’ll try to do better tomorrow!”

Raul Fernandez – P9

“I’m very happy with the day and to make it directly into Q2! But today was quite complicated, especially for me this morning as I felt sick and had a fever, so thank you to the Health Center who helped me to be ready and almost 100% fit on the bike. On track, I felt good, which is great news, especially as this Friday has been really positive and confirmed for us that the bike was better. In Austria, we made a good step, mainly in the area I struggled most with, which is braking. Today, we really established that my feeling with the bike is better, I can brake like I want and manage the machine very well. Now we need to work on the fast corners as here it’s quite challenging to find out how to use the line that I want. It was a very positive day though, I feel the pace is there with soft and medium tires and in the time attack, I felt I’m back. I can push like I want and use the potential of the soft tire to be there.”

Miguel Oliveira – P10

“It was definitely satisfying to be in Q2 directly on Friday. Although I didn’t feel very good with the bike – there are some things that really held me back from having a consistent pace – the speed was more or less there, but it was a 10th place, about one second off. I’m happy about it but, at the same time, I can’t be too happy as there is still a lot of work to do for tomorrow. It’s good that we finished the practice and already got a good direction for what we need to do and I’m excited to go out there tomorrow morning and get some work in before Qualifying.”

Pedro Acosta – P12

“It was a good day overall for our first time on the MotoGP bike in Aragon. We made good steps as the day went by, with good methods, although it is true that we were missing something when we used new tyres. It is something that we can accept, and continue working on as we try adapting our own style and the bike to the track. Let’s see what we can do in Q1 tomorrow, it will be very competitive for sure.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P13

“We have to be objective, it wasn’t 100% sure that I would be able to get on the track today. I can ride, I’m struggling, especially when I have to pick up the pace and push hard. When changing direction I feel pain and I’m not fluid. Despite everything, however, I’m strong, the pace isn’t bad, but we were missing something on the flying lap. We’re fighting, we’re not giving up and we’re trying to recover all our energy for tomorrow. I pushed myself a lot and I rode perhaps with a slightly unnatural position. Let’s go back to the data, rest and get back on the track tomorrow even more motivated.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P14

“A 50-50 day: I’m pretty good on pace, with the used soft, but I’m not happy with the feeling and the lap time with the new tire. The usual problems came back, which perhaps on this track, precisely because of its characteristics, are even more amplified. In any case I’m positive, we can make a good step tomorrow. I’m very happy with the new asphalt, at the beginning it was dirty, it’s normal, but there’s a lot of grip and the track gained points.”

Enea Bastianini – P15

“Today things turned out to be more difficult than expected, as we struggled to find the right direction. Because of that, we were late in everything: we put the time attack tyre on late compared to the other riders and I ended up with only one opportunity for a quick lap, which in the end got cancelled. It’s a shame because, had it not been cancelled, I would have been in the top ten, but now we’re kind of back to square one. The good news is that the direction we’ve taken appears to be the right one, but we lapped almost exclusively with the medium tyre, and it looks like that, right now, we’re not at the same level as our main rivals, so we’ll need to make another step. Surely, there’s still plenty of margin to improve.”

Jack Miller – P16

“Bloody good to be back here in Aragon.  We felt really good today but we simply lacked consistency. I felt like today was just a matter of putting things together and I couldn’t do that, especially hitting my lines in turn 1! Anyway we’ll go through Q1 tomorrow but looking forward to it regardless!”

Luca Marini – P17

“The conditions of the track were improving with each lap today. Our feeling with the bike in these low grip conditions has improved a bit and we are closer to the top ten than previously. Zarco made a great lap with his time attack, it will be a good chance to check his data and understand what we can improve tomorrow.”

Augusto Fernandez – P18

“The final result of the day is not the one that we expected, but it was a positive day overall. We tried new things and new ways of working, and we were more or less on the pace with the rest of the Pierer Mobility bikes. Our target is to get closer to the rest of the riders, and I believe that we are on our way to achieve that.”

Alex Rins – P19

“The grip was very low, and the day was quite hard. Today we gave our maximum, as always, and it looks like we are a bit further from the top guys than we were at other tracks. For sure, the low-grip conditions at this track don’t help us. Let’s see if we can improve tomorrow.”

Fabio Quartararo – P20

“Today, and especially this morning, was quite tough for us. I crashed in the afternoon, so I had to go out with a different bike that I was not supposed to use because it was a different spec. I had to adapt to it quite quickly. But overall, the feeling was not great today.”

Joan Mir – P21

“We had a bit of a difficult day today, but I think it was similar for everyone with the new surface. The grip improved a little bit in the afternoon, but in some corners it’s a bit unpredictable so I hope that improves tomorrow. We couldn’t make the most of the new tyre over a single lap and I got caught by the yellow flags. It’s all about learning and getting more information to improve everything for the future.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P22

“The new surface is completely flat, which is good, but there is a huge lack of grip, and it’s difficult to lean the bike. It wasn’t easy to understand how to do a good job. I felt better at the end of the FP1, but it was not enough to improve in the afternoon. I couldn’t find any grip, so I suffered throughout the entire session”.

Team Managers

Paolo Bonora – Aprilia Racing

“A great result in practice after some difficulties in FP1. Having four Aprilias in Q2 confirms the potential of the bike and the ability of our riders in the time-attack. However, we still need to work on maintaining a consistent performance throughout the weekend.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Trackhouse Team Manager

“Both riders went straight to Q2, which means today was the best Friday of the season for us. I’m happy with that. The time attack laps were all in and it’s amazing to see how they improved. I was around the track during the session because I was checking on what is going on, not just watching our boys but also comparing with the others and it was great to see our performance. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. We are in the top 12, but still a bit off, so for tomorrow we still need to find a bit more.”

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“We had a busy but unrewarding first day at the Aragon track. We had higher hopes for the new tarmac when it comes to improved grip, so much so that we were afraid it would negatively affect tyre life, but we discovered the opposite today. This amplified in a negative way our performance. We will spend all the available time before the next session to learn from the data we collected today to prepare something for FP2 and the qualifying sessions. On top of today’s lack of grip, Fabio had a crash in Turn 6 but, luckily, it had no big consequences.”

Friday MotoGP Report

Marc Marquez had the best start to a weekend since the 2021 Americas GP, topping both sessions. He ended the day ahead of Aprilia Racing duo Aleix Espargaro, who jumped to second, and team-mate Maverick Viñales as the Noale factory also had plenty to write home about on Day 1.

There were plenty of stories which formed throughout the session, all bubbling up to a party of red sectors. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) suffered from some issues early on, delaying valuable running. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) crashed at Turn 5, losing the front on entry. Moments after, Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) lost the front at Turn 16, with both riders soon making their way back to the pits.

There was further drama later in the session, with Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) crashing at Turn 16, bringing an early end to the Australian’s Friday with less than one minute to go. And the frenzy on the time-sheets had already been underway for some time.

Aprilia led right until the final flying miracle from Marquez, with Marc getting back on top right at the end. Still, Espargaro takes that P2 and Viñales is right on his heels, the latter the only rider seemingly able to challenge Marquez on the very last lap round. But not quite, as he slotted into third.

Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) took fourth after a busy session, ending the day 0.578s adrift from the top, however, with Marquez two-tenths clear just by himself and the Aprilia slotting into the gap.

Alex Marquez recovered to P5 after a delayed start to the session, and he also did some running in tandem with his brother.

Taking sixth it’s Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, who is the sole Ducati Lenovo Team rider inside the top 10 after Enea Bastianini was unable to put together an uninterrupted lap due to late yellow flags. Bagnaia ended the session in front of Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing), making 2022 winner Bastianini the GP24 hungry for a boost up the order on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) made it a 2024 milestone day for Honda as work continues on getting back to the front of the pack. The Frenchman took eighth, becoming the first Honda to secure direct entry to Q2 this season. The final spots inside the top 10 were Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira, who made it all four RS-GPs in the top ten on a very positive day for Aprilia.

An action-packed Q1 awaits after a tough afternoon for the Pierer Mobility Group riders: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder and team-mate Miller are now forced to battle it in Q1, as well as Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez.

Both Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team riders Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi were also outside the top 10, ahead of Bastianini. With just two spots up for grabs in Q2 once the Q1 runners head back out, it could get spicy.

MotoGP Practice Times

MotoGP Championship Standings

Moto2

Alonso Lopez (Sync SpeedUp) completed a perfect Friday at the Gran Premio GoPro de Aragon with a new lap record in P1 after having already led the way on Friday morning. Lopez set an impressive 1:50.989 benchmark to move two tenths clear of the first on the chase, rookie Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team), with CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team’s Jake Dixon taking the final spot inside the top three within a tenth of the Brazilian.

Fourth was even closer, with Fermin Aldeguer (Sync SpeedUp) within just 0.007 of Dixon, and small gaps from there on out: Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) in fifth is only half a tenth further back, ahead of Albert Arenas (QJMotor Gresini Moto2) at a similar deficit and Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing Team).

Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) had one of his best intermediate class showings so far in P7, ahead of Manuel Gonzalez (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) completing the top ten. Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team) was the rider just edged out.

Championship leader Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) was all the way down in P26, and fellow contender and teammate Ai Ogura in P17 as he returns from injury.

Senna Agius was 21st on Friday, 1.3-seconds behind the Lopez benchmark.

The FIM MotoGP Stewards have given a number of riders three-place grid penalties for being slow online in P1: Arenas, Alex Escrig (KLINT Forward Factory Team), Filip Salač (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Dennis Foggia (Italtrans Racing Team)

Moto2 Practice One Times

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

David Alonso (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) took control on Day 1 in Aragon, with the #80 entering the low 1:57 bracket and finishing 0.210s ahead of his rivals – breaking the lap record in the process. However, Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was charging hard behind, having a strong day and setting almost 15 laps across during Practice 1. The #99 was ahead of David Almansa (Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team), who had an equally impressive afternoon, rounding out the top three spots and finishing as the top Honda.

Dutchman Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) finished Friday in P4 but at a deficit of nearly eight tenths

From fourth to P10, it’s split by hundredths, with Austria podium finisher David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) heading Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI), rookie Angel Piqueras (Leopard Racing), Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing), Joel Kelso (BOE Motorsports) and Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse).

Rookie Jacob Roulstone placed himself in a good position ahead of Saturday, securing P13 on Friday afternoon with a late lap in 1’58.254. The Australian, confident that he has margin for improvement, will be looking to secure a direct Q2 ticket tomorrow morning.

Jacob Roulstone

“It was a decent, but strange day overall. I really like this track, but the surface was strange, although it got better in the afternoon. We suffered in P1 as the conditions were quite hot, but we made decent steps, and we managed to do a time attack with used tyres, which I am happy with. Our position at the end of the day is not bad, but we still have some points to improve on, and I am sure that we will figure these out tomorrow morning.”

Moto3 Practice One Times

Moto3 Championship Standings