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Practice times hint at results for MotoGP final round Second fastest in early practice, Spain’s Pol Espargaro is targeting further gains as he seeks to give the local fans something to cheer about this weekend in Valencia, the 18th and final round of the MotoGP season.

Just as the MotoGP World Championship grid was preparing to head out for their first taste of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, rain began to fall around the Valencia track.

Getting progressively heavier over the course of the morning, Espargaro ventured out to assess his Honda RC213V in the wet.

A productive morning led to the ninth fastest time, 0.731s shy of the top and gained Espargaro and the Repsol Honda Team valuable information.

Forecasts suggest the remainder of the weekend will be dry.

In the afternoon, with improved conditions, Espargaro was able to show his speed around Valencia – one of his favourite tracks on the calendar.

Improving his pace with each run on track, he set a best time of 1’30.939 for second overall, 0.012s behind Ducati’s Francesco ‘Peco’ Bagnaia, Esparagaro pushing even harder on his final lap of FP2 to overcome this gap but then  he suffered a fall at turn six.

Espargaro walked away without injury.

After closing FP1 this morning in second place, despite suffering a crash after going wide at turn one, Ducati Lenovo Team rider Jack Miller, from Australia, continued to impress also on the slick tyres this afternoon, as he set the best time of the day in 1:30.927 with the soft tyre in the final minutes of FP2.

So, in the end, Esparagaro was eventually flanked by both factory Ducati machines in the free practice standings, the leading trio appearing to have an early edge of their competition – Miller quickest, with Espargaro and Bagnaia next best – while fourth-placed Spanish Suzuki Rider Alex Rins finished 0.4s back.

Combined Free Practice Classification:

Pos. Rider Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Miller Jack AUS Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1’30.927
2 Espargaro Pol SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.012
3 Bagnaia Francesco ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.068
4 Rins Alex SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.409
5 Martin Jorge SPA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.469
6 Nakagami Takaaki JPN LCR Honda Honda 0.500
7 Mir Joan SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.586
8 Binder Brad RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.594
9 Dovizioso Andrea ITA Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 0.670
10 Zarco Johann FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.676
11 Quartararo Fabio FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.781
12 Espargaro Aleix SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 0.893
13 Morbidelli Franco ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.905
14 Marquez Alex SPA LCR Honda Honda 0.925
15 Petrucci Danilo ITA Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.156
16 Lecuona Iker SPA Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.171
17 Oliveira Miguel POR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.281
18 Vinales Maverick SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.287
19 Bastianini Enea ITA Avintia Esponsorama Ducati 1.292
20 Marini Luca ITA SKY VR46 Avintia Ducati 1.302
21 Rossi Valentino ITA Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 1.358

 

Rider Standings after 17 of 18 rounds:

  1. Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 267 points
  2. Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team 227 points
  3. Joan Mir – Team Suzuki ECSTAR 195 points
  4. Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team 165 points
  5. Johann Zarco – Pramac Racing 163 points
  6. Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team 142 points
  7. Brad Binder – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 142 points
  8. Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 113 points
  9. Maverick Viñales – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 106 points
  10. Pol Espargaro – Repsol Honda Team 100 points
  11. Alex Rins – Team Suzuki ECSTAR 99 points
  12. Enea Bastianini – Avintia Esponsorama 94 points
  13. Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 92 points
  14. Jorge Martin – Pramac Racing 91 points
  15. Takaaki Nakagami – LCR Honda IDEMITSU 76 points
  16. Alex Marquez – LCR Honda CASTROL 67 points
  17. Franco Morbidelli – Monster Energy Yamaha 42 points
  18. Luca Marini – SKY VR46 Avintia 41 points
  19. Iker Lecuona – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing 38 points
  20. Valentino Rossi – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 38 points
  21. Danilo Petrucci – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing 37 points
  22. Stefan Bradl – Repsol Honda Team 14 points
  23. Michele Pirro – Ducati Lenovo Team 12 points
  24. Andrea Dovizioso – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 8 points
  25. Dani Pedrosa – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 6 points
  26. Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 4 points
  27. Tito Rabat – Pramac Racing 1 point
  28. Cal Crutchlow – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 0 points
  29. Garrett Gerloff – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 0 points
  30. Jake Dixon – PETRONAS Yamaha SRT 0 points

 

 

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