If this morning Alex Rins, in 1'52.469, proved to be symbolically the fastest on the new asphalt of a Barcelona-Catalunya circuit wet by bad weather, he had to lose this afternoon to his teammate on a dry track.
After the French Grand Prix, and in conditions that are sometimes a little incredible, most of the drivers found themselves in Catalonia to take part in a private test session on the Circuit de Catalunya organized to evaluate the tires and collect data on the new surface of the track whose layout now includes a return to the original penultimate corner instead of the semi-F1 chicane.
The morning rain encouraged all the drivers whose teams do not benefit from concessions to stay in the box until tomorrow so as not to be counted out for a day that would have been unproductive.
Only Suzuki, Aprilia and KTM were therefore at work and have already obtained times, certainly unofficial, but already much faster than with the old track.
This should accelerate even further tomorrow with the entry of the tenors on the track... provided it doesn't rain!
Andrea Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 40.422s[39/45].
Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1m 40.519s +0.097s[40/41].
Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 40.522s +0.100s[32/39].
Alex Rins ESP Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 40.602s +0.180s[54/55].
Scott Redding GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 40.928s +0.506s[31/31].
Mika Kallio FIN KTM Test Rider (RC16) 1m 41.096s +0.674s[56/58].
Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1m 41.134s +0.712s[44/44].
Sylvain Guintoli FRA Suzuki Test Rider (GSX-RR) 1m 42.162s +1.740s[24/37].
Barcelona-Catalunya official MotoGP records:
Pole Position: Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 43.589s (2016)
Fastest race lap: Jonas Folger GER Yamaha 1m 45.969s (2017)
