Not a bad day at the office for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing then! Brad Binder, closely followed by Pedro Acosta, led a competitive and closely fought MotoGP field on Friday at the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) acts as the Austrian factory\u2019s closest challenger in P3, as we see some star names face Q1 in Barcelona \u2013 Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) being two of those.<\/p>\n
A COMPETITIVE START<\/p>\n
With 20 minutes gone, Alex Marquez led the way from FP1 pacesetter Acosta and Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), with Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) and Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) rounding out that early top five. Binder then slotted into P3 to make it two Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machines inside the top three, with Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) seventh fastest with just over half an hour left on the clock.<\/p>\n
Heading into the closing 20 minutes, Bagnaia had work to do. The Italian was P21, 0.9s away from Alex Marquez\u2019s time, and Martin was in a similar situation – the #1 was P23.<\/p>\n
TIME ATTACK MODE: ENGAGED<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Bastianini climbed to the Practice summit with 15 minutes to go to kickstart the time attack flurry we were about to enjoy in Barcelona. Bastianini\u2019s 1:38.972 was then smashed out the park by Marc Marquez\u2019s table-topping 1:38.444, and just behind, Zarco moved up to P2 behind the #93.<\/p>\n
Third place was where Alex Marquez placed himself, with Acosta P4 after his first time attack effort, before then leapfrogging the #73 into P3 a lap later. Not for long though. Alex Marquez found a healthy chunk of time to rise to P1 by 0.095s, with Binder and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) now spending some time in the top five as we entered the final 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) then made his move into the top 10. The Frenchman ascended to P4 to jump ahead of the factory KTMs, meaning all five manufacturers sat in the top seven with under five minutes left to play. The question now was, could Bagnaia find a way to barge into Q2?<\/p>\n
Away from that storyline, Bezzecchi improved to P3 as Bastianini and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) hit the top seven. Then, two KTMs powered to P1 and P2 as Binder led Acosta with a 1:38.141, but there was no 1:38 for Pecco as things stood. The Italian was still P21 and now, crashes for Zarco and Bastianini saw the yellow flags come out. And that meant, unfortunately, Bagnaia was unable to get a final attempt in. The #63 faces Q1 for the second weekend running, as KTM celebrate a perfect Friday at the office.<\/p>\n
YOUR FRIDAY TOP 10 IN BCN<\/p>\n
Marquez heads into Saturday as the fourth fastest rider ahead of Bezzecchi and Bastianini, with Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) collecting P7. Zarco, despite the late tumble, held onto P8 to finish just ahead of fellow HRC star Marini and rookie Ogura, as the Japanese rider earns automatic Q2 promotion in P10.<\/p>\n
ALL SET FOR QUALI<\/p>\n
Bagnaia, Martin, Quartararo\u2026 just three of the big names who will be scrapping it out in Q1 on Saturday, as the field chase KTM in Catalonia. See you tomorrow for more.<\/p>\n