LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami surprised the paddock to top the classification list after the first MotoGP practice session in Barcelona.
The Japanese rider will leave the sport after this weekend but delivered one last hurrah for himself and his forever loyal LCR Honda team. He complied a lap time of 1.40.501s, nearly half a second quicker than anyone else.
The first practice session of the season finale in Barcelona finally arrived. After the deadly floods in Valencia, the choice of venue was uncertain until only in the last couple of weeks as MotoGP returns to the Catalonia circuit.
When the series arrived at the circuit earlier in the season, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro bagged pole position and the Sprint race, while Francesco Bagnaia claimed the Grand Prix win.
Bagnaia nearly completed the double but crashed out at Turn 5 on the final lap of the Sprint race, a corner that riders will need to be wary of throughout the weekend.
Inside the first three minutes of the session, the corner claimed its first victim, VR46 stand-in rider Michele Pirro tumbled into the gravel traps.
The session halted one minute later as both Tech3 GasGas riders Pedro Acosta collided into each other heading down into Turn 6. The freak accident brought out the red flag due to the dirt and gravel on the track, and both riders walked away completely unscathed.
Acosta recovered immediately from his collision to lead the classification list throughout most of the session, ahead of the final ten minutes burst from all riders.
Nakagami rose to the top in that period and remained top of the charts till the end, and Acosta stayed in second place as Gresini rider Alex Marquez was only 0.003s adrift of the rookie.
Despite Nakagami holding a 0.411s advantage at the top, second through to 13th was covered by the same four-tenths, showcasing that the temperature played a part in tyre temperatures.
Brad Binder occupied fourth spot ahead of the GP24 Ducati trio of Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini and Bagnaia.
Maverick Vinales claimed eighth for Aprilia in his final race for the team, with the Spaniard bettering Jack Miller’s and Marc Marquez’s lap times in the closing stages.
Fabio Quartararo delivered 11th place for Yamaha, and Luca Marini produced a run to place him 12th, nearly nine-tenths adrift of the LCR Honda rider in the lead.
Franco Morbidelli ended his session in a lonely 13th, while hometown hero Aleix Espargaro finished his session way down in 14th in his last-ever race weekend.
The second LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco finished in a lacklustre 15th given his strong form in the previous races, but will take comfort knowing he outpaced the GP23 Ducati ride of Marco Bezzecchi.
Alex Rins and Augusto Fernandez salvaged 17th and 18th, respectively, and Repsol Honda rider Joan Mir was a whisker away from the GasGas rider in 19th.
Pirro ended his session in 20th ahead of the Trackhouse Racing duo of Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez, but Honda test rider Stefan Bradl’s return to racing this weekend saw him finish last overall.
