The last will not be the first. The two Japanese MotoGP manufacturers know this well, who lived the shame of taking the last six places in the tests on the first day of the Catalan GP (Practice, which determines the 10 places that go to Q2): Fabio Quartararo, winner last year, he was 17th on his Yamaha, followed by his teammate Franco Morbidelli, and then the four Hondas, 19th Marc Márquez, 20th Nakagami, 21st Iker Lecuona, and 22nd and last , Joan Mir.
More blush: three of the last four champions crawling in the last positions.
To add to the embarrassment of the two Japanese empires, their riders were more than 1.5 seconds behind the fastest of the day, Aleix Espargaró, with an Italian Aprilia with which he smashed the track record.
In the middle of the week, at the presentation of the Grand Prix, in Barcelona, Carmelo Ezpeleta was explicit: “There will be changes, the concessions will return. Next year, for sure. It is about making the results more even”, argued the CEO of Dorna Sports, the organizer of the MotoGP World Championship, who watches with concern how the ideal equality between all the brands is dismantled with the plummet of the two giants Japanese, once dominant, not so long ago, when the European motorcycles (Aprilia, KTM, Ducati) did not have a sufficient level.
"The concessions (for training, for the use of tires, for engines) were made because Ducati did not win, and Yamaha and Honda were generous," recalled Ezpeleta, who sees it as logical now that the European manufacturers "concede" to the Japanese to be able to put to his pair. "Marc and Fabio are two fantastic riders but they don't have the bike they need now, but the differences are minimal, they are less than a second from the winner (a Ducati)", pointed out the leader.
However, in the first tests at Montmeló, the Aprilias brought out the colors of the Japanese bikes: they dropped them to between 1.4 seconds (Quartararo, 17th) and 2.3 seconds (Mir, 22nd). For a good part of the second session, the two official Hondas of Márquez and Mir were in the last positions. Marc, who suffered a fall without physical consequences in the morning session (the 17th of the season), was able to improve and rise to 19th place. But far from the cut-off time set by Jorge Martín (10th), half a second faster.
The best time of the day was set, twice, by an inspired and highly motivated Aleix Espargaró to win at home. The Aprilia rider, who made a resounding mistake at the finish line last year, losing 2nd place (the race was thought to end one lap earlier), was the fastest in the morning free practice (ahead of Viñales and Martín) and in the afternoon.
The man from Granollers set a stratospheric 1m38s686, a new record for the Valles track, which lowers the best time he himself set in 2022 by 56 thousandths.
Aleix, who left his immediate pursuer, Viñales, 3 tenths behind, stands as one of the favorites for victory on Sunday. The leader, Pecco Bagnaia, was more discreet: he was 5th in the morning and 3rd in the afternoon, 375 thousandths behind Aleix.
