2021 Barcelona MotoGP FP1 Result: Home Sweet Home For Aleix Espargaro

By Zara Daniela | Fri, 04/06/2021 - 09:08

The paddock’s return to Barcelona was greeted with a light and innocent cloud cover and the first session went to one of the home favourites, with Aleix Espargaro demoting Franco Morbidelli from the top of the timesheets in the final couple of minutes of FP1. The Italian settled for second by two hundredths of a second, while Pol Espargaro also made a great start on home soil to climb into third. Maverick Viñales and Johann Zarco completed the top five, with championship leader Fabio Quartararo sixth and four tenths off the lead.

Miguel Oliveira was the lead KTM in seventh position while newly renewed teammate Brad Binder finished 20th. Reigning world champion Joan Mir and the Ducati duo of Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia rounded out the top 10 positions, with Takaaki Nakagami missing out by four hundredths of a second. Jorge Martin had a trouble-free return from injury to finish 12th, ahead of Marc Marquez, who inadvertently gave him a little tow to help improve his time. While the Pramac rider makes a long-awaited return, compatriot Alex Rins headed to the surgeon’s table after he crashed while cycling the track on Thursday and injured his arm.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1'40.378    
2 21 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1'40.402 0.024 0.024
3 44 Pol Espargaro Honda 1'40.751 0.373 0.349
4 12 Maverick Viñales Yamaha 1'40.753 0.375 0.002
5 5 Johann Zarco Ducati 1'40.767 0.389 0.014
6 20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1'40.853 0.475 0.086
7 88 Miguel Oliveira KTM 1'40.927 0.549 0.074
8 36 Joan Mir Suzuki 1'40.960 0.582 0.033
9 43 Jack Miller Ducati 1'40.991 0.613 0.031
10 63 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1'41.085 0.707 0.094
11 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1'41.134 0.756 0.049
12 89 Jorge Martin Ducati 1'41.185 0.807 0.051
13 93 Marc Marquez Honda 1'41.208 0.830 0.023
14 9 Danilo Petrucci KTM 1'41.254 0.876 0.046
15 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'41.267 0.889 0.013
16 27 Iker Lecuona KTM 1'41.357 0.979 0.090
17 23 Enea Bastianini Ducati 1'41.363 0.985 0.006
18 73 Alex Marquez Honda 1'41.437 1.059 0.074
19 10 Luca Marini Ducati 1'41.464 1.086 0.027
20 33 Brad Binder KTM 1'41.512 1.134 0.048
21 32 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 1'41.744 1.366 0.232
2021
7
MotoGP
Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
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Comments

Rins just broke a forearm bone on Thurs hitting a track truck while staring at his phone on his bicycle. It will be forever talked about as his crowning turd end of a career if he stays this crash prone or has hit his ceiling as a rider. Reality still has no favorites.

Aprilia "announced" only two bikes next yr. Gresini is going to run Ducatis. Suzuki announced that they...nope, zip. There will be ONE lonely Zook this weekend. Guinters will be here Mon for the post round Test.

Martin is back! And that is really cool. 

Yamaha swapped Galbusera from the Cal/Test garage lead to be Maverick's crew chief leaving longtime friend/family Garcia on sabbatical. Talk of Vinales and inconsistency up again, wisdom of this move. As a rider Mav has a very narrow window of bike under him he exceeds on, outside of which by 4mm and he flails. So bike setup has come under a microscope. Good thing though? Mav isn't struggling against the team for too many bike changes anymore. This may be seen down the road as not a bad move regardless of outcome - it either works, or Blue can be clear about where the issue lay. It is hard to be sharing the same bike as a phenom standout rider. We are seeing pressure up for several of those guys right now.

This track reconfigured the unsafe set of corners to a good one, everyone is pleased. But, the grip level is quite low. My eyes are on measure of the Yamaha this weekend, good test of them. After last race, Valentino said "it is Quartararo making the difference" w the bike, basically putting a nail in his own pine box. He knows.

MotoGP is seeing a swell of Moto3 ish "everyone doing lots for a tow." Race direction has been thinking about it intently. Keep your eyes on this space. 

There were a number of signings, silliness arises (albeit none of it silly yet). Miller in Red. Both Zarco and Martin at Pramac. Most interesting, Remy Gardner got Iker's spot at Tech3 KTM! Binder signed THREE more yrs in Orange. 

Honda announced that they are signing Dovi as a Test Rider, apologized for making such a dangerously unrideable bike, Puig "HRC engineering has been humbled," and have a brand new chassis and electronics update sorted by Bradl. Just kidding, still shite. 

Cheers vampire shifter