MotoGP Jerez Spain FP LIVE: Miguel Oliveira is here!

It was a strange first day that we witnessed on Friday as part of the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, with the tenors of last year's edition, Francis Bagnaia et fabio quartararo both ultimately forced to go through Q1 this Saturday.

Even if the Frenchman did not use a soft rear tire to benefit from the relative coolness in the morning, “Feeling, nothing more than feeling” is the refrain which generally comes back to the ears to explain these poor performances which we hope to be occasional, while on the contrary the 3rd thief of the 2022 edition, Aleix Espargaró, knew how to pull the chestnuts out of the fire by leading a solid double of the official Aprilia RS-GP.

At Ducati, with the help of a Enea Bastianini convalescent on the verge of forfeiting, we left the Pramac team and the duo Jorge Martín - Johann zarco the care of defending the chances of the Desmosedici in the face of adversity which places not only 3 Aprilias but also 2 KTMs in the provisional Top 7, Dani Pedrosa creating the feat of the day by winning in P1 before resisting the attacks of the competition by appearing 3rd in the evening of this first day.

The Mattighofen test driver is two places ahead of Jack Miller always delighted with his RC16, and you therefore have to go to 8th row to find the first Japanese motorcycle, and surprisingly not that ofAlex Rins, since in the end, Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), Dani Pedrosa (KTM), Jorge Martín (Ducati), Jack Miller (KTM), Johann Zarco (Ducati), Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia), Álex Márquez (Ducati), Takaaki Nakagami and Luca Marini (Ducati) pre-qualified for Q2 while Marco Bezzecchi appears in 12th position, Francesco Bagnaia 13th, fabio quartararo 16th, and will therefore have to go through Q1.

There are 629 points left to score as the 24 drivers prepare for this third 30-minute free practice session, under a rather clear Spanish sky accompanied by temperatures of 21° in the air and 26° on the ground.

Here are the past references to keep in mind:

MotoGP™, Jerez, Spain	2022	2023
P1	1'38.194 Joan Mir (See here)	1'36.770 Dani Pedrosa (See here)
P2	1'37.071 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'36.708 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
FP	1'36.782 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	1'37.229 Miguel Oliveira (See here)
FP4	1'37.517 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	XXXXXXX
Q1	1'37.003 Johann Zarco (See here)	(See here)
Q2	1'36.170 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	(See here)
Sprint	XXXXXXX	(See here)
warm up	1'37.442 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)	(See here)
Course	Bagnaia, Quartararo, Aleix Espargaró (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	1'36.170 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)

 

When the red lights go out... Like yesterday, it's Maverick Vinales who sets off first, undoubtedly to carry out a test start at the end of his first lap, while fabio quartararo takes the trail last.

 

 

In terms of tires, we hesitate between soft and medium…

 

At the end of the first round, Fabio Quartararo registered 1'38.438 ahead Jorge Martín, Brad Binder Francesco Bagnaia and Raúl Fernández.

In the next passage, it is Takaaki Nakagami who leads the troop, in 1'37.524 ahead Alex Marquez, Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira, Martín, Dani Pedrosa and Brad Binder.

fabio quartararo then recorded 1'37,332, his best time of the weekend so far, which confirms that the track is faster than yesterday.

 

 

Miguel Oliveira replied in 1'37.229 in his fifth flying lap, equipped with a medium rear tire.

 

 

At mid-session, the hierarchy is made up of Miguel Oliveira, Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaró, Takaaki Nakagami, Marco Bezzecchi, Brad Binder, Jorge Martín, Álex Márquez, Maverick Viñales, Francesco Bagnaia, Luca Marini, Dani Pedrosa, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Franco Morbidelli, Joan Mir, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Augusto Fernández, Raúl Fernández, Stefan Bradl, Álex Rins, Enea Bastianini, Lecuona and Jonas Folger.

Johann zarco then goes from 14th to 10th position, but it is Aleix I will espargaro who gets a little adrenaline rush when coming across an animal, perhaps a cat, in the middle of the track…

 

 

Jorge Martín makes a minor mistake at turn #7, then immediately it's the turn ofAleix I will espargaro to make a mistake at turn #11.

As expected, Enea Bastianini then officially announced his withdrawal for the Spanish Grand Prix.

 

 

On the other side of the box, five minutes before the checkered flag, Francis Bagnaia takes off his helmet and decides to leave it there, even though he is in 11th position in this FP, undoubtedly to take a few moments of rest before facing a very tough Q1…

At the last minute, Franco Morbidelli rises to fourth position.

 

 

FP results from the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com