Jorge Martin topped the timesheets in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix.
Martin’s rapid practice pace in the final minutes of the session on the soft front and rear tyres put him 0.292s clear of his championship rival Marc Marquez, with the Pramac Ducati rider setting in a banker lap of 1:39.579s.
Marquez’s lap time of 1:39.871s was the time to beat throughout most of the session, he was closely followed by KTM rider Brad Binder who finished the session 0.094s behind the Spaniard.
The South African rider will be delighted to put his bike in third following a difficult outing for himself and the manufacturer in the previous race at Le Mans.
On his final lap, Pedro Acosta completed his best lap to put himself in fourth in front of his home crowd.
Following his retirement announcement on Thursday, home-town favourite Aleix Espargaro kicked off his weekend with a more than respectable fifth place.
Throughout most of the opening practice session in Catalunya, all riders opted for the soft compound front tyres with medium rears on a clear sky Friday morning.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez was positioned in the top five throughout most of the session but settled for sixth due to not improving on his lap time in the dying embers.
Reigning double world champion Francesco Bagnaia slotted himself into seventh, once more showing he is the silent assassin in practice sessions.
GasGas and KTM duo Augusto Fernandez and Jack Miller occupied eighth and ninth to further back up KTM’s strong showing and that will provide them with positive signs for the weekend ahead.
Factory rider Maverick Vinales filled a Trackhouse Aprilia sandwich with Raul Fernandez finishing 10th and Miguel Oliveira 12th.
Johann Zarco’s LCR Honda has seen minor improvements in track position for this weekend’s race, finishing 0.843s off the front in 13th place.
VR46 struggled on their one-year-old Ducati’s compared to Gresini, with Fabio Di Giannantonio finishing 14th and Marco Bezzecchi second last.
Factory Yamaha and Honda occupied the following four spots with the riders separated by less than 0.150s, with 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo posting the exact same time as Di Giannantonio.
Alex Rins’ pace was closely matched to his team-mate and the Honda duo, with himself positioned in 16th.
Luca Marini endured his most successful run with the Honda team finishing ahead of the sister bike occupied by Joan Mir.
Surprisingly, Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli found themselves in the lower-end positions with disappointing finishes of 19th and 21st.
Takaaki Nakagami slotted himself between the GP24 Ducati duo, with one-off wildcard team-mate Stefan Bradl rounding off proceedings in dead last.
