MotoGP: Aprilia Racing dominates the opening day in Barcelona

Aprilia Racing have dominated the opening day at the Monster Energy Catalan Grand Prix as Aleix Espargaro clinched top spot ahead of teammate Maverick Viñales.

The pair were split by three tenths after sharing the lead of the timesheets throughout FP2, with Gresini Racing’s Enea Bastianini the Noale factory’s closest challenger in third.

Espargaro took over at the top with 20 minutes remaining, displacing FP1’s fastest man Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) with a set of medium tires. Seven minutes were left when we saw the first man stick some soft rubber in, with Viñales deciding it was the moment for a time attack.

The Spaniard put the soft rubber to good use as well by stealing top spot away from his teammate. Top Gun then found another two tenths on his next lap, posting a 1:39.705. The Ducati trio of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), Bastianini and Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) all had a go at trying to better Viñales but all three failed in their quests.

Then, with the checkered flag out, Espargaro snatched Friday’s fastest man tag away from his teammate with a blistering 1:39.402 – half a second shy of Fabio Quartararo’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) outright lap record from 12 months ago. A 1-2 for the Aprilia teammates to start the weekend, as both Espargaro and Viñales look to repeat their Catalan heroics after taking 1-2 on the grid whilst riding for Suzuki at the 2015 Catalan Grand Prix.

Friday Gran Premi de Catalunya Practice Results

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	Espargaro Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	1’39.402
2	Vinales Maverick	12	SPA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	0.303
3	Bastianini Enea	23	ITA	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	0.488
4	Bagnaia Francesco	62	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	0.548
5	Martin Jorge	89	SPA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.587
6	Binder Brad	33	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.681
7	Miller Jack	43	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	0.693
8	Rins Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.699
9	Quartararo Fabio	20	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.721
10	Morbidelli Franco	21	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.802
11	Espargaro Pol	44	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.835
12	Nakagami Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	Honda	0.854
13	Di Giannantonio Fabio	49	ITA	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	0.944
14	Bezzecchi Marco	73	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	1.026
15	Marini Luca	10	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	1.046
16	Mir Joan	36	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	1.248
17	Zarco Johann	5	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1.350
18	Marquez Alex	73	SPA	LCR Honda	Honda	1.383
19	Oliveira Miguel	88	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1.419
20	Binder Darryn	40	RSA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	1.469
21	Dovizioso Andrea	4	ITA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	1.541
22	Pirro Michele	51	ITA	Ducati Test Team	Ducati	1.649
23	Bradl Stefan	6	GER	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1.672
24	Fernandez Raul	25	SPA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1.681
25	Gardner Remy	87	AUS	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1.928