MotoGP Jerez Spain Q2 LIVE: Aleix Espargaró wins the jackpot!

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.

During Qualification-1, Francis Bagnaia et Brad Binder have been drafted and there are now 12 of them competing for 15 minutes to determine each person's place on the first four rows of the starting grid.

The temperatures are 24° in the air and 29° on the ground but the sky has suddenly darkened and the rain just came briefly and completely unexpectedly this weekend, leaving the track a little wet!

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 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Q2	1'36.170 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	1'37.216 Aleix Espargaró (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... The track has almost dried up and everyone (except Brad Binder and Alex Marquez) sets off on slick tires Maverick Vinales once again the first.

 

 

But the rain partially returns to certain places on the circuit, transforming this session into a lottery.

Jack Miller managed to register 1'43.003 on slick tires, this 10th ahead Francis Bagnaia and 1,4 seconds ahead Johann Zarco.

 

 

Luca marini is positioned second but it is Alex Marquez, also in slicks which recorded 1'42.675 and took provisional pole position.

The Gresini driver improves to 1'41.682 on the next pass, but the rain has stopped and many drivers are improving the red sectors...

 

 

Luca marini displays 1'41.561 at the top of the table before Aleix Espargaró only scored 1'41.137.

Alex Marquez replied in 1'39.944 (!) despite a few drops still falling in certain places of the Andalusian circuit.

Aleix Espargaró responds in 1'39.537 but Alex Marquez registered 1'39.262 before Jack Miller seizes command which he immediately cedes to Johann zarco in 1'38.259!

The track continues to dry and, once again, Jack Miller appears very briefly in the table before Johann zarco do not enter 1'37.616!

 

 

In the last minute, Aleix Espargaró achieves 1'37.546 but Jack Miller didn't give up and set 1'37.437 before the last second Aleix Espargaro snatched pole position in 1'37.216.

A crazy session, not necessarily very significant but certainly very lively!

See you at 15:00 p.m. for the Sprint!

 

Results of Q2 of the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez:

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

Classification credit: MotoGP.com