Fabio Quartararo crushed the opposition in first practice for the Catalan Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, posting a lap over four-tenth’s clear of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Quartararo looked to be in the mix right from the beginning of the session, trailing early leader Maverick Vinales by just 0.105 following the opening runs-Yamaha with four of their M1 challengers in the top five.
The Petronas SRT man then moved his satellite machine into the top spot mid-way through the session as the first rider to break into the 1:40s, sitting on a 1:40.972.
This time looked to be good enough to keep him on top until the session climax, but he wasn’t quite finished and banged in a rapid 1:40.584 to really assert his dominance over the rest, Dovizioso left to battle for the scraps with Suzuki’s Joan Mir and Vinales.
Dovizioso managed to post an encouraging 1:40.861 on his final flying effort to close back in on the leading Frenchman, although he in turn shaved a further tenth-or-so from his benchmark to close out the session 0.430 ahead of the Desmosedici.
Mir-who was forced to switch to his spare bike after crashing at Turn 5 early on- ended the session third fastest as the flag fell, lapping just half-a-tenth faster than Vinales’ factory Yamaha, while Aleix Espargaro impressed for Aprilia with the fifth quickest lap.
San Marino GP winner Franco Morbidelli was sixth ahead of the second Suzuki GSX-RR of Alex Rins, while Valentino Rossi ensured all four Yamaha’s would remain in the top ten by sessions end.
Cal Crutchlow made a strong return to competition with ninth on the timesheets for his LCR Honda outfit, while Miguel Oliveira led KTM’s charge to complete the top ten.
Unlike the previous few events, Pramac Ducati started the weekend on the back foot slightly, Francesco Bagnaia its highest classified pilot in 15th while team-mate Jack Miller survived a wild moment at Turn 1 to finish a lowly 18th.
Similarly off-colour were the factory KTM duo, Pol Espargaro 16th overall ahead of Brad Binder in 21st, while the official Honda outfit yet again featured towards the bottom as the returning Stefan Bradl led Alex Marquez in 17th and 20th respectively.
| # | Rider | Team | Time | Gap / Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’40.431 | |
| 2 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’40.861 | 0.430 / 0.430 |
| 3 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’41.060 | 0.629 / 0.199 |
| 4 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’41.105 | 0.674 / 0.045 |
| 5 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’41.195 | 0.764 / 0.090 |
| 6 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’41.219 | 0.788 / 0.024 |
| 7 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’41.316 | 0.885 / 0.097 |
| 8 | Valentino ROSSI | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’41.536 | 1.105 / 0.220 |
| 9 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’41.549 | 1.118 / 0.013 |
| 10 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’41.592 | 1.161 / 0.043 |
| 11 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’41.609 | 1.178 / 0.017 |
| 12 | Johann ZARCO | Esponsorama Racing | 1’41.625 | 1.194 / 0.016 |
| 13 | Iker LECUONA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’41.640 | 1.209 / 0.015 |
| 14 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’41.643 | 1.212 / 0.003 |
| 15 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Pramac Racing | 1’41.790 | 1.359 / 0.147 |
| 16 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’41.833 | 1.402 / 0.043 |
| 17 | Stefan BRADL | Repsol Honda Team | 1’41.969 | 1.538 / 0.136 |
| 18 | Jack MILLER | Pramac Racing | 1’42.026 | 1.595 / 0.057 |
| 19 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati Team | 1’42.059 | 1.628 / 0.033 |
| 20 | Alex MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’42.061 | 1.630 / 0.002 |
| 21 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’42.335 | 1.904 / 0.274 |
| 22 | Tito RABAT | Esponsorama Racing | 1’42.992 | 2.561 / 0.657 |
