MotoGP Valencia FP1 LIVE: Best time for Johann Zarco, Martin 3rd, Bagnaia 13th.

In this Valencia Grand Prix, Pecco Bagnaia could have a chance to win his second MotoGP World Champion title, depending on the results of the Tissot Sprint. If he's 12 points (or more) ahead of Jorge Martin after this Saturday race, it's Sunday's match point. He would need to be 37 points (or more) ahead of Martin to win the title…

On this possibility, the title holder and official Ducati commented : " we will have to face this weekend calmly and be very quick on Friday. It will be a fundamental day to be competitive on Saturday because my goal is to close the championship in a sprint as soon as possible. They say it's not nice to do it in the short race? I don't care, it would be great to then be able to enjoy Sunday ».

Is Friday a fundamental day? Exactly, here we are and it begins with this FP1 which is a warm-up for the Practice to follow, and which will already determine the lucky ones elected for Q2.

 

What will this session have in store for us? Before you know it, here is the table that summarizes the facts known so far.

MotoGP™ Valencia	2022	2023
FP1	1'31.399 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'30.191 Johann Zarco
FP2	1'30.217 Luca Marini (See here)
FP3	1'29.921 Jack Miller (See here)
FP4	1'30.762 Miguel Oliveira (See here)
Q1	1'30.090 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Q2	1'29.621 Jorge Martín (See here)
Warm up	1'30.885 Johann Zarco (See here)
Course	Rins, Brad Binder, Jorge Martin (See here)
All time lap record	1'29.401 Jorge Lorenzo (2016)

Welcome to the Valencia track for the Grand Final! a beautiful show awaits us!

We are live...

Let's go for 45 minutes under the sun

Jorge Martín is ready, he has no room for error...: title objective!!! He wears a helmet covered with all the names of the people surrounding and supporting him: mechanics, friends, family.

He must recover at least 21 points...Bagnaia only has 4 points to scrape in the Sprint race to be titled tomorrow.

Home straight for MMarquez on the Honda…

14° in the air this morning...they are launched, the duel can begin! A resurfaced route whose Grip seems very promising..

zarco signs the reference time in 1.33.064s. He is ahead Quartararo, Mir, Morbidelli and R. Fernandez.

Martin takes control in 1.32.288s with 37 minutes to go. bagnaia is currently 21st and runs in 1.32.795s. He improves again in 1.30.877s. Bezzecchi, AMarquez, MMarquez et QuartararoThe progress of this provisional top5 continues.

kick of Mir in turn 8, AMarquez also goes to the mat in turn 1.

Di Giannantonio takes the lead in 1.30.851s Martin follows suit in 1.30.877s, Bezzecchi, AMarquez, MMarquez, Quartararo, Bastianini, Miller, PEspargaro and Marini complete this top10. Zarco is 15th, Bagnaia is 21st.

For the record, 37 points are up for grabs this weekend.

After his victory last week, Di Giannantonio is already showing his fangs during this first session..He is thirsty for victory!

MMarquez regains the leadership in 1.30.564s. bastianini imitates him and takes the 2nd best time in 1.30.811s. Di Giannantonio, Martin and Bezzecchi bring up the rear of this top5 with 19 minutes to go.

The Ducati bosses are under pressure like their champion…

Vinales in turn signs the best time in 1.30.534s. bagnaia is in 9th position in 1.30.969s. Quarterly is 10th, zarco 12e.

There are 15 minutes left in this first session.

By Giannantonio regains control in 1.30.378s.

There are 10 minutes left and the top10 is made up of: Di Giannantonio, Vinales, MMarquez, Bastianini, Martin, Bezzecchi, Miller, AMarquez, Bagnaia and Quartararo 

Bagnaia is 9th at the moment.

Nakagami crash in turn 8. Time canceled for Martin who happened to pass in this same sector..Zarco also impacted.

Martin recovered just as quickly, he set the 2nd best time in 1.30.450s. zarco is 4th best time in 1.30.505s. There are 34 seconds left..Bagnaia 13th in 1.30.969s. zarco improves in 1.30.478s, he takes 3rd position behind his teammate. Quarterly is 6th.

Zarco sets the best time in 1.30.191s.

End of session, Zarco ahead of Di Giannantonio and Martin.

Mir goes to the medical center for examinations..

MotoGP Valencia FP1: ranking

Credit classification motogp.com