The top seven are split by 0.318s in Motegi as a belter from the South African defeats Ducati on Day 1.
Brad Binder’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) brilliant 1:43.436 handed the South African Day 1 honours at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan as an incredibly competitive Friday afternoon Practice session played out at a dry Mobility Resort Motegi. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) claimed P2, 0.033s away from the blistering Binder, with World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) a further 0.099s shy in P3 as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) settles for P7.
We’re normally used to seeing the first 30 minutes – or more – of Practice get off to a steady start, but that wasn’t the case in Japan as the threat of wet weather meant soft rear Michelin rubber was slotted in at the beginning of the session. Bagnaia and Martin were straight up to P1 and P2, with Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio sitting in an early P3 and P4.
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) was soon inside the top three on his first visit to Motegi on a premier class thoroughbred, before the session – lap time-wise – settled down following the opening 15-minute flourish.
A while later, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) was then P3 after a couple of solid efforts were hammered home by Top Gun before we saw Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) crash at Turn 13 with just over 30 minutes to go. ‘The Beast’ was all OK and jogged back to the box, but it was a fast one – the front end washed away without warning, and the Italian’s GP24 took some heavy blows in the gravel.
With 15 minutes to go, things started to ramp up again. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing MotoGP™) jumped up to P5, and soon after, Aprilia stablemate Viñales went P2 – 0.012s away from Bagnaia. Immediately the Spaniard was demoted to P3 though as Binder set a 1:43.879 to go top of the timesheets, with teammate Jack Miller now P4. The KTMs were prowling.
On his next lap, Viñales improved again to move back into P2, but it was soon P3 once more as Acosta climbed to P2 to make it a Pierer Mobility Group 1-2 with 10 minutes to go. The rookie sensation then pinched P1 off Binder after delivering a 1:43.754, as both Bagnaia and Martin failed to beat Acosta and Binder on their first time attack efforts.
Pecco then slammed home a 1:43.754 to set the exact same time as Acosta, but Martin went 0.186s faster than his title rival and the #31 to act as the new session leader with five minutes left to play. Attention then turned to Bastianini and after his crash earlier in the session, ‘The Beast’ clawed his way back into the top 10 to go P2, 0.037s down on Martin.
The lead changed again though! Binder went top, 0.132s clear of Martin, as home hero Takaaki Nakagmi (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) clinched a provisional P9 – top job from the Japanese star. There were still plenty of changes coming though. Marc Marquez went 0.033s slower than Binder to pocket P2 as improvements for Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Di Giannantonio pushed the impressive Nakagami out of the top 10 moments before the chequered flag waved.
What a session that was. Acosta improved late to finish P4 and under a tenth and a half away from Binder, with Bastianini rounding out the top five – a good recovery from the #23. Viñales was P6, Bagnaia slipped to P7, but less than four tenths covers the front seven in a very competitive Friday. Alex Marquez, Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi were the final top 10 finishers as a late crash at Turn 3 for Miller saw the Australian miss out in P11 by 0.030s. Nakagami also missed the cut by such a fine margin, the #30 0.049s off an automatic Q2 place.
So that’s another Friday done and dusted – and what an afternoon it was. KTM, Ducati and Aprilia being right in the mix sets us up very nicely for qualifying and Tissot Sprint Saturday at the Japanese GP, and as ever, you can catch it all on motogp.com!
FP2: 10:10 (UTC +9)
Q1: 10:50
Q2: 11.15
Tissot Sprint: 15:00
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