MotoGP
Published on June 4, 2022 • 09:46 by Marc Sériau

MotoGP Catalonia Barcelona FP3 LIVE: Aleix Espargaro imperial, Johann Zarco royal!

The recipe for an Aprilia RS-GP and a Catalan rider seems For now to be the winning solution to face the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix which takes place this weekend at the Catalunya-Barcelona circuit.

Thus, at the end of the first day of free practice, the two representatives of Noale, Alex Espargaro et Maverick Vinales, dominated their opponents, most of whom suffered greatly from the lack of grip of the local asphalt.

If a strategy different from the normal one allowed alex rins to impose itself in FP1, Ducati limits the damage in FP2 by taking second place behind the Aprilias with Enea Bastianini, Francis Bagnaia et George Martin.

Finally, Alex Espargaro, Maverick Vinales, Enea Bastianini, Francis Bagnaia, George Martin, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, alex rins, fabio quartararo et Franco Morbidelli are therefore provisionally pre-qualified for Q2.

Johann zarco, author of the best lap in the race in 1'39.939 last year, saw the time which placed him in 10th position canceled for having been run under the yellow flag.

While waiting to discover more, as the 25 drivers prepare for this third and important free practice session of 45 minutes in the dry, with a sky still clear and temperatures of 26° in the air and 36 ° on the ground, let's enjoy these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Past references:

Catalunya-Barcelona MotoGP™

 2021

2022
FP1

1'40.378 Aleix Espargaro (See here)

 1'40.101 Alex Rins (See here)
FP2

1'39.235 Johann Zarco (See here)

 1'39.402 Aleix Espargaro (See here)
FP3

1'38.929 Franco Morbidelli (See here)

 1'38.771 Aleix Espargaro (See here)
FP4

1'39.602 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Q1

1'39.153 Jack Miller (See here)
Q2

1'38.853 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Warm Up

1'39.783 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)
Course

Oliveira, Zarco, Miller (See here)
All time lap record

1'38.853 Fabio Quartararo 2021 (See here)

 1'37.771 Aleix Espargaro (See here)

When the red lights go out... Luca marini prioritize Franco Morbidelli and rushes off first. Like he usually does, fabio quartararo left the pit lane last year.

Medium tires get the majority of votes, even if a few softs are still used here and there.

Brad Binder proves to be the fastest at the end of the first lap launched at 1'40.843 in front Remy Gardner.

In the next passage, it is Jack Miller in 1'39.960 which leads the pack before lowering the reference to 1'39.756.

Starting today we are treated to two spectacular handheld cameras, one with Alex Rins, the other with Francesco Bagnaia.

https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1532995910338334720

After eight minutes, Brad Binder share the minor fault at turn #4.

Meanwhile, fabio quartararo takes command in 1'39.628.

In the wake, Johann zarco placed third in the session, fifth overall. A sort of response to the officials who recognized their error but did not restore the French driver's time in FP2...

When the drivers start to stop, the top 10 combined is therefore made up ofAleix Espargaro, Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Vinales, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami, Enea Bastianini, Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi.

Espargaro Pol minor fall in sector 2.

At mid-session, the session ranking is made up of Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami, Francesco bagnaia, Joan Mir, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Jorge Martin, Darryn Binder, Enea Bastianini, Miguel Oliveira, Brad Binder, Franco Morbidelli, Pol Espargaro, Michele Pirro, Alex Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Luca Marini, Aleix Espargaro, Raul Fernandez, Remy Gardner, Andrea Dovizioso and Stefan Bradl.

We immediately notice that the Aprilias so brilliant yesterday are on a different strategy and it is at this moment that Maverick Vinales jumped from 19th to first position, in 1'39.442, with a soft rear tire, it's true!

At the same time, equipped with the same pneumatic suit, his teammate Alex Espargaro achieves the best time of the weekend in 1'39.309! What a demonstration of strength from the Noale firm!

The Catalan driver continued his effort and scored 1'38.771 on the next pass, a new absolute circuit record!

Jorge Martin then sets the third fastest time but at this point in the session, only five bikes are within the same second: a look that we haven't seen for a long time!

11 minutes from the checkered flag, alex rins et Enea Bastianini manage to get between the two Aprilias, but the Suzuki rider remains more than half a second behind Aleix Espargaro.

Johann zarco et Fabio Quartararo make their effort and position themselves second and third, limiting their gap to 2 and 3/10 with the Catalan.

There are seven minutes left when the drivers, now almost all in medium front and soft rear, make one last pass to their box to prepare for the final rush...

The first attack is carried out by Jack Miller, then out of the top 10 combined, which jumped from 14th to 3rd position. In turn, George Martin takes provisional second place just ahead of his French teammate.

Less than two minutes from the checkered flag, John Zarco takes second place, Francesco Bagnaia the fourth.

Alex Espargaro remains for the moment clearly the man to beat this weekend, even if John Zarco is barely more than a tenth of a second...

This afternoon, Aleix Espargaro, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo, Luca Marini, Pol Espargaro, Alex Rins and Fabio Di Giannantonio will therefore avoid going to Q1 to go directly to Q2.

Result of FP3 of the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit:

FP1/FP2/FP3 result of the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit:

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com