Bagnaia fastest from Quartararo at the close of day-one in Jerez

Factory Lenovo Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia topped an interesting first day of action in Spain, after setting a lap time of 1:37.209s - eight tenths quicker than Brad Binder’s FP1 time. 

Bagnaia’s fastest lap was enough to secure top spot ahead of championship leader Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro, who were the early session pace setters, just like FP1. 

Bagnaia’s impressive lap initially put him four tenths quicker than the rest of the field, before Quartararo reduced the gap to +0.178s with seconds remaining. 

Aprilia’s Espargaro once again showed the formidable form that he and his RS-GP bike are in as he finished third fastest. It’s looking increasingly likely that a podium is on the cards this season for Espargaro, which could come sooner rather than later given his form today.

Franco Morbidelli’s upturn in performance which started last time out at Portimao seems to be continuing, as he finished fourth at the conclusion of day-one. The Petronas Yamaha rider put together some impressive early runs which had him fastest before the soft tyre efforts began. 

Unlike the opening session where we saw five different manufacturers inside the top five, Yamaha dominated proceedings as Maverick Vinales put his Yamaha M1 machine fifth. 

Takaaki Nakagami was the fastest Honda on day-one as he returned to something like the form we saw in 2020. The Japanese rider’s condition seemed to greatly improve too following the painful crash in Portugal two weeks ago. 

Seventh quickest for the second time today was Miguel Oliveira, but this time he was fastest of the KTM riders. 

Rounding out the top ten was Alex Rins in eighth for Suzuki, Johann Zarco ninth for Pramac Ducati, while Binder was tenth fastest having led the morning session. 

Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Jack Miller and Joan Mir are just a few who will hope to improve their times and therefore position during Saturday’s FP3, otherwise it will result in a Q1 appearance.