MADRID, 18 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The French rider Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), the Italian Andrea Migno (Honda) and the British Jake Dixon (Kalex) set the fastest times after the first free practice sessions in the MotoGP, Moto3 and Moto2 categories respectively of the Indonesian Grand Prix, second round of the Motorcycle World Championship and with problems for Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró and other candidate riders.
The first contact with the Mandalika Circuit was marked by the different conditions with which the pilots had to deal, especially those of the two small categories, who found the track quite wet due to the rain that fell and which mainly marked the first batches.
And the threat of water for qualifying this Saturday left many of the big names on the MotoGP grid in a delicate situation, who failed to get into the top ten of the time table, including Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró.
The eight-time world champion, who suffered a spectacular fall without apparent physical consequences in the final stages of the second training session, could only set the twenty-second fastest time (1:32.847), a very strange result for the Cervera rider.
Nor did things go better for his teammate, the fastest curiously in the morning and the driver who had dominated the pre-season tests. Granollers, third in the Qatar Grand Prix, finished nineteenth with 1:32.641.
And although it was a bad start for Repsol Honda and for Honda, which did not put any of its four riders in the ‘Top 10’, other theoretical favorites were not spared either, such as the current world runner-up, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia, who was twenty-first (1:32.845), or the Spanish Joan Mir (Suzuki), twentieth (1:32.641).
Things did go better for the official Yamaha, which had already performed well in the tests. The current champion, Fabio Quartararo, was able to smile and go relieved to rest after dominating the time table with 1:31.608, just ahead of the other ‘M1’, that of the Italian Franco Morbidelli, who was just 30 thousandths.
Behind them, up to four Ducatis, although the first official was that of Jack Miller, sixth and last rider below 1:32 (1:31.965). In front of the Australian were the Frenchman Johan Zarco (1:31.893), the Spanish Jorge Martín (1:31.904) and the Italian Enea Bastianini (1:31.921), winner in Lusail.
ACOSTA COULD BE SANCTIONED IN MOTO2
In the Moto3 category, where the riders set foot on the Indonesian track for the first time, the best time on Friday went to the winner of the first race in Qatar, the Italian Andrea Migno (Honda), the only one capable of getting down from the 1:41 (1:40.960).
Behind the Italian, at 273 thousandths, was placed the best Spaniard, the Valencian Carlos Tatay (CFMoto), and the also Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda), at 299 thousandths. The second best Spaniard of the day was Jaume Masiá, eighth at almost 600 thousandths, while Sergio García Dols (GasGas), second in Lusail, could only be sixteenth.
For his part, in Moto2, where his components did not know the track either, the British Jake Dixon (Kalex) was in charge of leading the time table with 1:35.897. Nobody else could be in 1:35, with the winner in Qatar, the Italian Celestino Vietti (Kalex), second (1:36.328), and the also British Sam Lowes (Kalex), third (1:36.491).
As for the Spaniards, the best of the day was the young Murcian Pedro Acosta (Kalex). The current Moto3 champion finished fourth, more than half a second behind Dixon and just ahead of his teammate, Augusto Fernández from Madrid, but he suffered a spectacular crash with yellow flags and could be penalized. Valencian Arón Canet, second in the first race, finished ninth.