MotoGP Jerez Spain Q1 LIVE: Bagnaia passes with Binder, Quartararo beaten by Morbidelli

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, Francis Bagnaia 13th, Fabio Quartararo 16th, and will therefore have to go through Q1.



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)	1'36.493 Pecco Bagnaia (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)

 

First of all, during the last free session Aeneas bastianini tried, but after five laps, it was the end of the meeting for the Ducati rider. His shoulder still gives him too many problems. After the long break, he just lacks strength. This is why he and Ducati have decided not to go out this weekend. Davide Tardozzi, Ducati team manager, takes stock of his condition at the microphone of Sky: “ Enea is too bad, it would be absurd to take risks, unfortunately it cannot last more than a few turns, so there's no point in racing ».

 

 

24° in the air, 31° on the track, all under a hazy sky, these are the conditions proposed to the pilots for this quarter of an hour.

 

 

Here is the list of drivers who will compete in Q1 and those directly in Q2:

 

The weather is stormy with even lightning in the sky. Will we have a surprise in terms of the weather? There are reports of possible precipitation at the start of the sprint. However, qualifying is still expected to take place without rain.

bagnaia leaves with a motorcycle for a ride then returns to the pit to take the second Ducati at his disposal. Quarterly signs the first reference in 1'37.420, but Bezzecchi brings the mark to 1'36.886. All drivers are medium soft.

 

 

The first run is over. bagnaia is only fifth… All drivers are back in the pits and receiving new tires.

 

 

The last five minutes have begun. bagnaia slams a 1'36.745 but Brad Binder did better in 1'36.541, followed by Bezzecchi. In the last minute, bagnaia takes over the leadership of operations Binder. in 1'36.493. Quarterly is only sixth.

 

 

Under the checkered flag, bagnaia et Binder take their ticket for Q2.

 

 

Bezzecchi is the first eliminated. Quarterly is only sixth, behind By Giannantonio and… Franco Morbidelli… And now it starts to rain in Spain!

 

 

Results of Q1 of the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com