Practice report

MotoGP Catalan GP: Martin heads Marquez in first practice

MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin topped the opening practice for the 2024 Catalan Grand Prix on his Pramac Ducati from Gresini’s Marc Marquez.

The sixth round of the 2024 campaign began with the two riders vying for a factory team Ducati seat for 2025 setting the pace across the first 45-minute practice of the weekend.

Marquez set the early pace on his Gresini Ducati and led for much of the session before Martin – shod with fresh soft rubber – took over in the closing stages with a 1m39.579s.

KTM’s Brad Binder completed the top three from Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta, while last year’s Catalan GP winner Aleix Espargaro – who announced his retirement on Thursday – was fifth on the factory Aprilia.

FP1 ran under grey skies but remained dry for its duration, with Marquez setting out his stall early on his GP23 with a 1m41.226s in the opening moments of the session.

Espargaro briefly took over with a 1m40.504s, before Marquez fired in a brace of session-best laps that culminated in a 1m39.871s with just under 10 minutes of the session gone.

That would stand as the benchmark for quite a while as Marquez remained on the same soft front/medium rear tyre combination he began the session on.

In the closing stages a number of riders elected for fresh rubber, with Martin the only one opting for a new soft rear tyre for a late time attack.

He produced a 1m39.579s with just under five minutes to go to move to the top of the standings and wouldn’t be bettered as the chequered flag came out.

Marquez shadowed him by 0.292s, with Binder completing the top three with a 1m39.958s after a late run on a fresh medium rear.

Acosta was just 0.008s behind his factory KTM counterpart, with Espargaro fifth from Gresini’s Alex Marquez – who also didn’t run fresh tyres late in the session.

Francesco Bagnaia – another to remain with the tyres he started the session on - was seventh on his factory team Ducati from Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez, while KTM’s Jack Miller and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez rounded out the top 10.

LCR’s Johann Zarco was the leading Honda in 13th as he tried a new exhaust and revised aerodynamics, while Fabio Quartararo led the Yamaha charge on the M1’s new aero package in 15th.

MotoGP Catalan GP - FP1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	19	1'39.579		170.891
2	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	19	+0.292 1'39.871	0.292	170.391
3	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	21	+0.379 1'39.958	0.087	170.243
4	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	20	+0.387 1'39.966	0.008	170.229
5	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	16	+0.472 1'40.051	0.085	170.085
6	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	19	+0.708 1'40.287	0.236	169.685
7	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	18	+0.724 1'40.303	0.016	169.657
8	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	20	+0.759 1'40.338	0.035	169.598
9	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	22	+0.782 1'40.361	0.023	169.559
10	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	20	+0.789 1'40.368	0.007	169.548
11	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	17	+0.801 1'40.380	0.012	169.527
12	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	17	+0.818 1'40.397	0.017	169.499
13	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	18	+0.843 1'40.422	0.025	169.456
14	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	17	+0.914 1'40.493	0.071	169.337
15	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	19	+0.914 1'40.493	0.000	169.337
16	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	15	+0.974 1'40.553	0.060	169.236
17	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	18	+1.049 1'40.628	0.075	169.109
18	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	16	+1.093 1'40.672	0.044	169.036
19	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	20	+1.110 1'40.689	0.017	169.007
20	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	20	+1.113 1'40.692	0.003	169.002
21	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	16	+1.204 1'40.783	0.091	168.849
22	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	18	+1.215 1'40.794	0.011	168.831
23	S. Bradl HRC Test Team	6	Honda	18	+1.844 1'41.423	0.629	167.784
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