See you in the morning!
Francesco Bagnaia won the training on Friday. He will have to go all in this weekend to keep his title chances alive and hope for help from others.
We’ll be canceling the ticker for today, but we’ll start tomorrow just in time for the final training sessions and then of course we’ll also follow the qualifying sessions and the possibly title-deciding sprint race. So it’s worth stopping again. Until then!
The schedule for Saturday:
08:40-09:10: Moto3 Training 2
09:25-09:55 am: Moto2 training 2
10:10-10:40 am: MotoGP 2 Free Practice
10:50-11:05 am: MotoGP Q1
11:15-11:30 am: MotoGP Q2
12:50-1:05 pm: Moto3 Q1
13:15-13:30: Moto3 Q2
13:45-14:00: Moto2 Q1
14:10-14:25: Moto2 Q2
3:00 pm: MotoGP Sprint (12 laps)
Martin will be the world champion on Saturday
With a 24-point lead over Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin can claim his first world championship in Saturday’s sprint race. The constellations can:
– If Martin wins, Bagnaia’s ranking doesn’t matter.
– If Martin finishes second, Bagnaia must finish third or worse.
– If Martin finishes third, Bagnaia must finish fifth or worse.
– If Martin finishes fourth, Bagnaia must finish sixth or worse.
– If Martin finishes fifth, Bagnaia must finish seventh or worse
– If Martin finishes sixth, Bagnaia must finish eighth or worse
– If Martin finishes seventh, Bagnaia must finish ninth or worse
– If Máirtín finishes in eighth place, Bagnaia must finish in tenth place or worse.
– If Martin finishes ninth or worse, the title will be decided on Sunday.
MotoGP Training: Appendix
Brad Binder’s time was subsequently cancelled. That drops him to 17th in the rankings, but it plays a small role as he didn’t exactly qualify for Q2 anyway.
MotoGP training: KTM and Yamaha out
Brad Binder narrowly missed out on a straight entry in Q2 in eleventh place. This also applies to his KTM teammate Jack Miller right behind him. None of the Yamahas made it straight into Q2 either: Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins finished up in 14th and 15th behind Takaaki Nakagami.
MotoGP Training: Bagnaia on top on Friday
Joan Mir crashes after 10, causing yellow flags that protected some drivers on their last laps. Francesco Bagnaia remains in the lead, Marco Bezzecchi remains
Johann Zacro moves straight into Q2 also in a strong fourth place. Jorge Martin can’t improve but is still safe in fifth place – as are Maverick Vinales, the Marquez brothers, Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini, who complete the top 10.
MotoGP training: Martin made a mistake
Final efforts are underway. Jorge Martin has to end his lock after a near crash in Turn 5. The previous round he wasn’t even sitting. Things are looking up for Francesco Bagnaia, who leads with a time of 1:38.918 minutes. Marco Bezzecchi, also in the 1:38s, is second.
MotoGP training: Zarco surprises in P1
Johann Zarco is in the lead. The LCR pilot takes advantage of Marc Marquez’s slipstream and sets a new best time of 1:39.197 minutes! He is 17 thousand years faster than Jorge Martin. Maverick Vinales and Francesco Bagnaia are behind them. The pitch drives into the pits again.
MotoGP training: further improvement
In the next lap, Jorge Martin improved again and raised the record to 1:39.214 minutes. What does Francesco Bagnaia do? He is first in fourth place.
MotoGP Training: Battle for Q2 places begins
The last 15 minutes of the session are underway and everyone has moved to fresh tires to enter the time attack and secure a place in the top 10. Jorge Martin sets a time of 1:39.652 minutes.
MotoGP training: Vinales second new
Maverick Vinales has been fitted with a new medium front tire and a new soft rear tire. This means he narrowly misses his previous best time and is now in second place.
MotoGP training: interim results
The drivers are working on their racing speed. So there isn’t much happening in the rankings right now. The order sees Marco Bezzecchi ahead of Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta. Title contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin are right behind. Maverick Vinales, Brad Binder, Franco Morbidelli, Johann Zarco and Aleix Espargaro are in the second half of the top 10.
MotoGP Training: Marc Alex continues
Marc Marquez left a little late and has now chosen teammate and brother Alex Marquez as a reference. He has been doing well here so far and is currently in second place. Marc Marquez is still behind in 14th place.
MotoGP training: choice of tires
When it comes to tires, this time the field is divided into medium and hard versions on the front wheel. The soft and medium hard tires are shown on the rear wheel. The air temperature remains at a cool 16 degrees.
MotoGP Training: Already faster
The first riders to break the 1:40 mark are Marco Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta, who currently lead the classification. Franco Morbidelli is not doing so well. He hit turn 2.
MotoGP training: starting point
The MotoGP ends the day with their training. It also determines the direct entry Q2. Anyone who can finish in the top 10 will advance to the next round.
In the morning, Takaaki Nakagami was the fastest with a time of 1:40.501 minutes. However, only a few drivers came out with fresh tires at the end of the session. The times will probably get faster again at the end of this training session.