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MotoGP Valencia GP: Zarco leads Di Giannantonio in opening practice

The Frenchman, who moves to LCR Honda for 2024, set a 1m30.191s at the end of 45-minutes of running to lead the opening practice session of the season finale at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Gresini rider Di Giannantonio finished second, 0.187s off the quickest time, having led for much of the session to continue his recent strong form.

Title rivals Jorge Martin (Pramac) and factory Ducati rider and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia finished the session third and 13th respectively. Bagnaia must outscore Martin by four points in the sprint race to clinch his second consecutive title for the Italian manufacturer before Sunday's grand prix.

Gresini’s Alex Marquez set an early benchmark to lead with a 1m34.555s, but was quickly bettered by Zarco with a 1m33.064s.

Fellow Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) and Martin then went faster, with Martin leading 0.006s ahead.

There were two crashes in quick succession 10 minutes into the session, with Honda rider Joan Mir crashing at Turn 8 for his 24th fall of the season, before Alex Marquez went down at Turn 1 after losing his front end in the chilly conditions.

Mir went to the medical centre following his incident and was yet to emerge by the end of the session.

Di Giannantonio then went top for the first time, setting a 1m30.851s ahead of Martin. The Italian currently has no ride for next year, but is widely expected to replace Luca Marini at VR46.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

He continued to lead at the halfway mark, while Bagnaia was 1.9s off the pace in 21st – not an unusual position for the factory Ducati rider on a Friday morning.

Marc Marquez was next to take the top spot on the timesheet with a 1m30.564s, hoping for a fairytale farewell as he heads into his final weekend with Honda after 11 years, though he admitted on Thursday that he “cannot try any crazy things" in Valencia.

Factory Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales then bettered his time by 0.03s, as further back Bagnaia improved to ninth.

Heading into the final 10 minutes, Di Giannantonio reclaimed the top spot with a 1m30.378s, 0.145s quicker than Bezzecchi.

LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami was the third faller of the session as he crashed at Turn 8 in an almost identical incident to that of fellow Honda rider Mir, prompting a brief yellow flag.

Zarco’s quickest time came in his final lap of the session to lead from Di Giannantonio and Martin. Bezzecchi was fourth, with Vinales fifth ahead of factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo.

Marc Marquez finished the morning’s session in seventh, with rookie Augusto Fernandez (GasGas) eighth.

Enea Bastianini and Alex Marquez rounded off the top 10.

MotoGP Valencia GP - FP1 results:

 
 
         
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 France J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5 Ducati 19

1'30.191

  159.860  
2 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49 Ducati 17

+0.187

1'30.378

0.187 159.529  
3 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 22

+0.259

1'30.450

0.072 159.402  
4 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 19

+0.299

1'30.490

0.040 159.332  
5 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 19

+0.343

1'30.534

0.044 159.255  
6 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 20

+0.365

1'30.556

0.022 159.216  
7 Spain M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93 Honda 20

+0.373

1'30.564

0.008 159.202  
8 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 20

+0.376

1'30.567

0.003 159.197  
9 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 18

+0.620

1'30.811

0.244 158.769  
10 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 17

+0.666

1'30.857

0.046 158.688  
11 Spain P. Espargaro Tech 3 44 KTM 20

+0.683

1'30.874

0.017 158.659  
12 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 19

+0.710

1'30.901

0.027 158.612  
13 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 18

+0.778

1'30.969

0.068 158.493  
14 Spain R. Fernández RNF Racing 25 Aprilia 22

+0.855

1'31.046

0.077 158.359  
15 Italy F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21 Yamaha 20

+0.921

1'31.112

0.066 158.244  
16 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 23

+1.061

1'31.252

0.140 158.002  
17 Italy L. Marini Team VR46 10 Ducati 20

+1.106

1'31.297

0.045 157.924  
18 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 15

+1.252

1'31.443

0.146 157.671  
19 Spain A. Rins Team LCR 42 Honda 20

+1.297

1'31.488

0.045 157.594  
20 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 15

+1.323

1'31.514

0.026 157.549  
21 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 5

+1.362

1'31.553

0.039 157.482  
22 Italy L. Savadori RNF Racing 32 Aprilia 19

+1.806

1'31.997

0.444 156.722  
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