Recapping the opening day of MotoGP/2/3 practice in Valencia

MotoGP 2023

Round 20 – Valencia Grand Prix
MotoGP Friday Practice Report

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) will have to contest Q1 on Saturday. The Championship leader was shadowed at times on Friday by rival Jorge Martin, the Pramac Ducati rider sitting on the tail of Bagnaia during FP2 and somewhat hounding the defending champ. Ultimately, Martin was second quickest on Friday as Bagnaia was way down in 15th.

Francesco Bagnaia – P15

“Honestly, we needed more time to improve our situation, I was struggling a lot today; normally we finish the job on the final part of the session on Friday but today it was more difficult. For tomorrow we already have ideas of where to improve because after the session we checked the data and we are losing like five-tenths in three corners, which is a lot of time. But it’s better that it’s just in three corners because we know where to intervene. The feeling is not the best at the front, but I am convinced that we can solve it and get prepared for the Sprint race.”

Outside of the championship battle it was Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) who set the pace thanks to a 1m29.142 – a new Circuit Ricardo Tormo all-time lap record.

Maverick Vinales – P1

“A time of 29.1 in Valencia is spectacular. This is proof that we are fast and that we have great potential. Now the goal is to maintain our speed throughout the weekend. On this track, we need to have the skill to find the right balance between the front and rear tyre. Today we were successful and riding the RS-GP was truly a pleasure. We’ll analyse the data closely now to continue our improvement process. The pace is not bad, but it’s only Friday and too early to say. We’ll see what happens with the conditions tomorrow.”

Behind the second placed Martin is his team-mate Johann Zarco who enjoyed a positive day and ended Friday as one of three riders underneath the seven-year-old lap record on the newly resurfaced track.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) continued his strong form to claim P4, with compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) – despite a crash at Turn 8 – completing the top five.

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P4

“It was another good Friday. I felt good straight away with the bike and race-pace wise we are already in a good position. We still need something with regards to the time-attack, but we’ll work on it tomorrow morning. The choice of the front tyre will be important for the race, but we’ll analyse everything tonight and be ready.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P5

“I’m really happy, I was able to be fast straight away and find the feeling on the front again. I rode as I wanted and I am satisfied with both the time attack and the pace. It’s a shame about the crash, nothing serious, just the bike, as soon as it touched the gravel, started to fly. I took a big hit, but without consequences. I have good confidence on the bike and I can do well tomorrow. This is the most important thing.”

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) ended the 60-minute Practice stint in P6, while eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) gets set for a Q2 appearance following a positive day, finishing Friday in seventh.

Marc Marquez – P7

“Today I felt good on the bike, and I decided to take some extra risks. Even in the morning I was quite convinced of my possibilities, and I changed my mentality a bit to take a lot more risks, but I feel it’s the way to do it this weekend. My concentration is 100% on riding to the best of my abilities on the Repsol Honda Team RC213V. I was able to do the time attack alone, which is something that has been quite complicated this season. Tomorrow, we aim to follow the same plan, we will see what possibilities we have after Qualifying because it’s always very tricky to overtake here.”

Raul Fernandez (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team), Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – another crasher in Practice – and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) are the other riders who bagged automatic Q2 spots.

Raul Fernandez – P8

“I’m really happy. Since Misano, we saw that we are fast. It’s good to know that we have managed Q2 for tomorrow again, I think it will be interesting to have a good grid place here and that is our target for tomorrow. I love Valencia and I believe we can do a really good job. We have to work a bit more on some corners, which means, we still have a margin to improve. In general, I’m really satisfied.”

Aleix Espargaro – P10

“To be honest, I’m a bit sad, because I did not expect to suffer this much. I’m able to hang tough for a couple laps, but then the pain gets to be too much. This track is not the best suited for the situation since there are a lot of left-handers where I struggle more. The crash this morning was also due to this. My body tries to compensate for the lack of strength on the left side and I used the brakes too much to get the bike turning. At the moment, participating in the race doesn’t seem likely. I’ll try to have fun in qualifying and then we’ll see. The Clinica has done an incredible job and we have a few ideas for tomorrow, but I don’t know if it will be enough.“

Bagnaia will have teammate Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) for company in the biggest 15 minutes of the season, while the likes of Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) will also fancy their chances of processing.

Joan Mir suffered a luckless start to the Valencia GP. A fall at Turn 8 within the opening minutes of the session saw the #36 land heavily, immediately heading to the medical centre and then local hospital for further checks. Fortunately, both sets of scans revealed no major damage, Mir sitting out the afternoon session with a pending medical check on Saturday morning.

Enea Bastianini – P11

“I was very unfortunate today. It’s a shame because the road was never totally free, there was always something on the track, crashes, yellow flags, riders who were not thinking about making the time but who were just wandering around; so, two-thousandths of a second kept me out of Q2. It wasn’t a great day even though my pace is good; every time I entered, I improved and had good splits, so it’s a shame to be out of Q2. We have little grip, especially on the tyre edge and we are unable to have good acceleration; this is what we are missing but I think it will sort itself out as the laps go by and it will certainly be important to analyse today’s data.”

Alex Marquez – P12

“We made a big step forward between morning and afternoon and honestly, it’s my fault if we’re not in Q2. I made a few too many mistakes in my two quick-lap attempts, but we’re in the right place with regards to the race pace and the direction we’re following. We can and we must be competitive tomorrow.”

Fabio Quartararo – P13

“It‘s a shame, because there were many yellow flags, and on my fast lap I found some riders. I made a mistake, but I was still super close. So, we have the pace, but we didn‘t make a good lap, and that was partly my fault. Tomorrow we will try to get into Q2, and I will try to give it my best.”

Franco Morbidelli – P14

“We didn‘t get a place inside the top 10 today, and it looks like we are lacking a bit in terms of race pace too, but I have to check the data. It was a tricky and complicated day, even though the feeling is there. We are pushing a lot with our bike, and we are giving the maximum. But 100% was not enough today.”

Luca Marini – P17

“A difficult day, in the afternoon I was hoping for something better, but with the medium on the rear I felt quite good, while with the soft I struggled a lot. I had no grip at the rear and I wasn’t able to be competitive when braking and turning. I took some risks on the time attack and I crashed. I returned to the track with the second bike, with the soft in front, but it was impossible to ride, especially on the left. Let’s get back to work for FP2.”

MotoGP Friday Afternoon Practice Results

MotoGP FP1 Results

MotoGP Championship Points

Moto2

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) is the rider to beat after the opening day at Valencia, exchanging places with Fermin Aldeguer (CAG SpeedUp) at the top of the time-sheets until a decisive new all-time lap record from the reigning Champion: a 1:33.768. Aldeguer fell 0.132s short of Acosta by the close of FP2, with Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) rounding out the top three following Friday’s running.

Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) made a step in Practice 2 to put himself within 0.238s off the pace. The Brit finished the day in 4th place ahead of his compatriot Sam Lowes (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team) who enjoyed a positive opening day to round out the top five. Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing) also took well to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo and put his Triumph Kalex in P6 ahead of Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing).

Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) knocked one second off his lap time in Practice 2 as he found his feet in Valencia. The American bagged 8th place ahead of his teammate Dennis Foggia, with Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team) kicking off his Valencia GP with a Friday P10.

Moto2 Friday Practice Results (Combined)

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3

Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) ended Day 1 of the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana fastest after his 1:38.706 saw him top the timesheets on Friday.

Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) got the closest to the Spaniard’s time despite bringing out the red flags with a mid-session high side. The Turk was taken to the medical centre for a check-up and will be reviewed before Practice 3 in the morning, but his time stood strong as he remained the only rider to join Holgado in the 1:38 club in 2nd place.

Joel Kelso (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) finished the day in 3rd place overall after clocking a time just under three-tenths away from the top spot.

Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) missed out on the top three by just 0.047s as he took P4. Next up behind the Spaniard was Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team), with 2023 World Champion Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) taking sixth. Ryusei Yamanaka (GASGAS Aspar Team) finished the day in P7 as half a second covered the top eight – the eighth of those riders being Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP). Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) and Vicente Perez (BOE Motorsports) rounded out the top 10.

Rookie of the Year David Alonso (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) suffered two big crashes in Practice 2, the second one involved Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) with the Japanese rider hitting the Colombian’s machine on the exit of Turn 11. Both riders were up on their feet, Sasaki rider ok and Alonso heading to the medical centre for a check-up – he’ll be reviewed tomorrow morning ahead of Practice 3.

Moto3 Friday Practice Results (Combined)

Moto3 Championship Points