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MotoGP Catalan GP: Martin heads Marquez in first practice

The sixth round of the 2024 campaign began with the two riders vying for a factory team Ducati seat for 2025 setting the pace across the first 45-minute practice of the weekend.

Marquez set the early pace on his Gresini Ducati and led for much of the session before Martin – shod with fresh soft rubber – took over in the closing stages with a 1m39.579s.

KTM’s Brad Binder completed the top three from Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta, while last year’s Catalan GP winner Aleix Espargaro – who announced his retirement on Thursday – was fifth on the factory Aprilia.

FP1 ran under grey skies but remained dry for its duration, with Marquez setting out his stall early on his GP23 with a 1m41.226s in the opening moments of the session.

Espargaro briefly took over with a 1m40.504s, before Marquez fired in a brace of session-best laps that culminated in a 1m39.871s with just under 10 minutes of the session gone.

That would stand as the benchmark for quite a while as Marquez remained on the same soft front/medium rear tyre combination he began the session on.

In the closing stages a number of riders elected for fresh rubber, with Martin the only one opting for a new soft rear tyre for a late time attack.

He produced a 1m39.579s with just under five minutes to go to move to the top of the standings and wouldn’t be bettered as the chequered flag came out.

Marquez shadowed him by 0.292s, with Binder completing the top three with a 1m39.958s after a late run on a fresh medium rear.

Acosta was just 0.008s behind his factory KTM counterpart, with Espargaro fifth from Gresini’s Alex Marquez – who also didn’t run fresh tyres late in the session.

Francesco Bagnaia – another to remain with the tyres he started the session on - was seventh on his factory team Ducati from Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez, while KTM’s Jack Miller and Trackhouse Racing’s  Raul Fernandez rounded out the top 10.

LCR’s Johann Zarco was the leading Honda  in 13th as he tried a new exhaust and revised aerodynamics, while Fabio Quartararo led the Yamaha charge on the M1’s new aero package in 15th.

MotoGP Catalan GP - FP1 results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 19

1'39.579

  170.891  
2 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 19

+0.292

1'39.871

0.292 170.391  
3 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 21

+0.379

1'39.958

0.087 170.243  
4 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 20

+0.387

1'39.966

0.008 170.229  
5 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 16

+0.472

1'40.051

0.085 170.085  
6 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 19

+0.708

1'40.287

0.236 169.685  
7 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 18

+0.724

1'40.303

0.016 169.657  
8 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 20

+0.759

1'40.338

0.035 169.598  
9 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 22

+0.782

1'40.361

0.023 169.559  
10 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 20

+0.789

1'40.368

0.007 169.548  
11 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 17

+0.801

1'40.380

0.012 169.527  
12 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 17

+0.818

1'40.397

0.017 169.499  
13 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 18

+0.843

1'40.422

0.025 169.456  
14 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 17

+0.914

1'40.493

0.071 169.337  
15 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 19

+0.914

1'40.493

0.000 169.337  
16 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 15

+0.974

1'40.553

0.060 169.236  
17 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 18

+1.049

1'40.628

0.075 169.109  
18 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 16

+1.093

1'40.672

0.044 169.036  
19 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 20

+1.110

1'40.689

0.017 169.007  
20 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 20

+1.113

1'40.692

0.003 169.002  
21 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 16

+1.204

1'40.783

0.091 168.849  
22 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 18

+1.215

1'40.794

0.011 168.831  
23 Germany S. Bradl HRC Test Team 6 Honda 18

+1.844

1'41.423

0.629 167.784  
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