Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha YZR M 1) acted like the champion he is at the end of the first day of free practice for the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix at the Mandalika circuit.
Quartararo, who did not start too well, overcame all the inconveniences and in the end he got “the papers” from the preseason on the Mandalika track, to climb to the top of the table, although with just 30 thousandths of a second on his teammate, Italian Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha YZR M 1) and almost three tenths of a second with respect to Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati Desmosedici GP22).
Problems soon began for the world champion, as the Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha YZR M 1) had to return to his workshop with technical problems on his motorcycle, at the moment when the time table and with almost forty minutes Ahead of the session, it was his compatriot Johann Zarco (Ducati Desmosedici GP22), who led the classification, 1:33.310.
Several scares, in his case literal, suffered Marc Márquez, who had to bring out his ability to control his Repsol Honda RC 213 V in turn seven and then in turn sixteen, when she gave him a little “whiplash” shortly after going out on the track.
But at the head of the classification there had already been changes, with the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (KTM RC 16) leading, 1:32.707, beating Marc Márquez, 1:32.847, and the Australian Jack Miller (Ducati Desmosedici GP21), with Zarco quarter.
Only three riders “choked” their personal best time from the first session at the start of the second, all of them Spanish, Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda RC 213 V) -the last one to achieve it-, Joan Mir (Suzuki GSX RR) and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia RS-GP).
Oliveira remained firm in first place, but behind him, Bagnaia defeated Márquez and in the wake of the Repsol Honda rider were the current champion of the category, Fabio Quartararo, and the winner of the first race of the season, the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati Desmosedici GP21).
Joan Mir, disgusted
In the final part of the session, Joan Mir, the 2020 MotoGP world champion, could be seen, very upset with the performance of his bike, and Marc Márquez suffering a new scare.
And, ahead, one surprise after another, with the Spaniard Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) taking the lead, later overtaken by Johann Zarco but ahead of the winner in Qatar, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Desmosedici GP21), who crashed shortly before Marc Márquez also finished in the same wayalthough both pilots were able to leave the track under their own power.
Bastianini and Márquez were the only ones to fall during the MotoGP session, which ended up being dominated by the world champion in title, Fabio Quartararo, ahead of his teammate, the Italian Franco Morbidelli. Behind them a wide representation of Ducati, with Johann Zarco, Enea Bastianini and Jack Miller.
Sixth place, for which he was “subscribed” for almost the entire day, went to the Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP), with the South African Darryn Binder (KTM RC 16), the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira and the Spanish Alex Rins (Suzuki GSX RR); ultimately, closing the positions with the right to go to the second direct classification.
Pilots of the caliber of Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha YZR M 1), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia RS-GP), Raúl Fernández (KTM RC 16) or Alex Márquez (Honda RC 213 V) were left out of it, in addition to the pilots Repsol Honda team officials, who deserve a separate mention.
Both Pol Espargaró, nineteenth and very angry when he arrived at his workshop, and Marc Márquez, who did it on an organization scooter with his motorcycle damaged after the fall, twenty-second, the alarms at Honda were “activated” instantly, although from the reaction of the former one could “assume” that he was perfectly aware of the problem they had suffered from.
Nor was the 2020 world champion Joan Mir (Suzuki GSX RR) very bright, who finished 20th, just ahead of last year’s world runner-up, the Italian Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia.