Riders separated by the smallest of margins in Friday action at Jerez
Circuito de Jerez - Angel NietoHonda's MotoGP riders demonstrated good race pace during Friday's Practice session ahead of the Spanish GP at Jerez
After a three-week break, MotoGP action returned today with riders taking to Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto for the opening day of action ahead of the Spanish GP.
Impressive as always, Joan Mir had the rear of the Honda RC213V floating in the air as he pushed to the very limits in the braking zones from his first run of the weekend. Finding something extra in his final time attack of the day, the #36 missed out on the top ten by only 0.027s on his quickest lap. Advancing to Q2 tomorrow is certainly possible when looking at Mir’s individual sectors, he and his team targeting overnight improvements to gain consistency.
In the LCR garage, Johann Zarco started the day within the top-five places on the timesheets from the morning session, before pushing with the aim of securing a direct Q2 spot. The Frenchman struggled with tyre feeling and was unable to be within the top-ten places, ending the session in 12th place. Despite having to go through Q1, there is strong potential for a solid result.
Classically consistent across both sessions, Luca Marini was able to show promising pace with his longer runs as he happily sat inside the top five. Quickly able to reach a strong level, Marini felt he was missing the last crucial tenths during the time attack to finish inside the top ten. With just 0.056s the difference, the margins are as narrow as ever in the premier class.
Brazilian rider Diogo Moreira showed some good pace in the morning session, but like his team-mate, also experienced a lack of optimal feeling with the tyre and ultimately ended Practice in 19th place. The LCR rider's aim will be to use tomorrow's Free Practice 2 session to further dial in his setup and fight for good results.
I gave my 100% today to achieve the best result possible, when you put together all of my sectors, I am fourth on the times. We spent today adjusting the electronics a bit and we are very close in the longer runs. If we can find more grip, we can put everything together in a more dynamic way to end the session in a stronger position. We will keep working to be more comfortable on Saturday and Sunday.
I gave my 100% today to achieve the best result possible, when you put together all of my sectors, I am fourth on the times. We spent today adjusting the electronics a bit and we are very close in the longer runs. If we can find more grip, we can put everything together in a more dynamic way to end the session in a stronger position. We will keep working to be more comfortable on Saturday and Sunday.
Today was a positive day, I was in the top five several times and managed both sessions well. The main difficulty came during the time attack, where I struggled to extract the maximum performance from the soft tyre on a single lap. I had good pace, but I wasn’t able to put everything together consistently when it mattered most. It’s a bit disappointing because we were very close, but we have room to improve and strong potential to do a solid job tomorrow.
Today was a positive day, I was in the top five several times and managed both sessions well. The main difficulty came during the time attack, where I struggled to extract the maximum performance from the soft tyre on a single lap. I had good pace, but I wasn’t able to put everything together consistently when it mattered most. It’s a bit disappointing because we were very close, but we have room to improve and strong potential to do a solid job tomorrow.
Our overall pace is strong, and we showed that during most the session we can be towards the front, where we are lacking is in that last step for the time attack. We’re confident, we can reach 90% of our best quickly but that last 10% is taking more time and that’s where we miss on Friday afternoon. I am happy with the lap time we did, but we will need to work hard to find something more and advance out of Q1 – we have the ability to. It’s important here to maximise our Qualifying because you can help your race a lot.
Our overall pace is strong, and we showed that during most the session we can be towards the front, where we are lacking is in that last step for the time attack. We’re confident, we can reach 90% of our best quickly but that last 10% is taking more time and that’s where we miss on Friday afternoon. I am happy with the lap time we did, but we will need to work hard to find something more and advance out of Q1 – we have the ability to. It’s important here to maximise our Qualifying because you can help your race a lot.
I’m quite pleased with today’s performance, it felt like a regular Friday. It was my first time riding a MotoGP bike at this track, and while I struggled a bit, especially in the afternoon, we’ve identified a few key areas where we can improve, which is what really matters. The field is incredibly tight, and putting together a fast lap was challenging, as I didn’t fully understand the tyre behaviour. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
I’m quite pleased with today’s performance, it felt like a regular Friday. It was my first time riding a MotoGP bike at this track, and while I struggled a bit, especially in the afternoon, we’ve identified a few key areas where we can improve, which is what really matters. The field is incredibly tight, and putting together a fast lap was challenging, as I didn’t fully understand the tyre behaviour. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
