GP Catalonia 2026, Barcelona: the report of the Practice

Bagnaia and Martin miss Q2, Acosta on top

16.05 – That’s all for now, dear FormulaPassion readers! Thanks for your attention from Salvo Sardina and Marco Belloro (who told you about FP1 this morning), but the invitation is to stay with us because many more news are coming from both Montmelò and the Nurburgring where tomorrow Max Verstappen’s first 24 Hours of the Nordschleife will begin.

Read more GP Catalonia 2026 – Qualifying Standings: Acosta leads, then Alex. Bez 7th, Martin and Bagnaia in Q1

16.02 – The final standings of these spectacular Friday sessions in Barcelona, which close under the sign of Pedro Acosta:

16.00 – Right under the checkered flag, there are two final big moves: Johann Zarco moves to fourth place, with Fabio Quartararo taking ninth. Both Bastianini and Bagnaia slip out of the top-10.

15.59 – Attention! Bagnaia makes a move and takes provisional tenth place which could grant him an unexpected Q2 spot. Bezzecchi improves to fifth, 121 thousandths behind Acosta.

15.58 – Ouch! Another crash for Jorge Martin, who slides in turn 2 similarly to what Ogura did a few minutes ago. The Spanish rider is fine but very upset about the mistake that excludes him from Q2. Joan Mir also crashes, but he might be sure of a top-10 spot.

15.57 – What difficulties for Bagnaia, who does not go beyond 15th place and is almost two tenths behind tenth place.

15.56 – Slightly wide in turn 4, Jorge Martin aborted his flying lap and now really risks losing automatic access to Q2.

15.55 – Five minutes to go and Bezzecchi and Martin relaunch, this time again with a new Soft rear tire (and the same Medium front as before). Pecco Bagnaia does the same, currently only 19th.

15.53 – Nice lap for Joan Mir who, despite a very nervous bike that kept bouncing through the third and fourth sectors, manages to take fourth place, 136 thousandths behind Acosta.

15.51 – Acosta’s best time holds, with Alex Marquez moving to second place, only 18 thousandths behind. Bezzecchi and Martin launch but still without particularly interesting times: in fact, the Le Mans stage winner is 12th and therefore currently outside Q2.

15.49 – Fabio Di Giannantonio takes provisional second place, also on Medium-Soft tires.

15.47 – On track with new tires (Medium front, Soft rear) also the two home championship dominators Aprilia, Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin.

15.46 – Pedro Acosta immediately does better, taking the lead in 1:38.710. Two tenths advantage over Binder, with Bastianini in third: 1-2-3 KTM currently in the standings, while we wait for the other championship big names.

15.44 – The second attempt is the good one for Brad Binder, who takes the lead in 1:38.970. Bastianini, Acosta and Bagnaia also launch with new tires.

15.43 – Binder improves, who has new Medium front and Soft rear tires: the South African rider is fifth, while Alex Rins slides into gravel in the second sector.

15.42 – Difficulties continue for Bagnaia, who had tried a new aerodynamic cover on the swingarm but then lost this appendage on track and will not replace it.

15.40 – Mir, Toprak and Binder go out on track with new tires. The standings waiting for the big time attacks:

15.37 – New medium tires for Di Giannantonio, who launches for some fast laps. Meanwhile Marco Bezzecchi goes wide in the second sector, using a connecting path to rejoin the track after a gravel excursion in turn 4.

15.33 – Ai Ogura slides, luckily without consequences: the Japanese rider fell in the direction change of the first chicane, ending up in gravel.

15.31 – Bagnaia improves well in the first and second sectors but then loses everything in the third and fourth, so he does not improve, remaining 19th on track. However, the Italian on the only official Ducati present still has the used tires from the start of the session.

15.29 – New tires for Ai Ogura (Medium-Soft) and now there is an improvement in times. The Japanese is not yet the fastest of all, but only 2nd, 53 thousandths behind Bezzecchi.

15.28 – The MotoGP broadcast meanwhile allows us to appreciate the technical modifications on Bagnaia’s Desmosedici GP26:

15.26 – Unlike what happened last week in Le Mans, where it was much more frequent to see improvements even with very worn tires, Barcelona’s law prevents big improvements. In fact, tires tend to wear out quite quickly, especially the Soft ones.

15.23 – New Medium tires front and rear for Alex Marquez, while Jorge Martin, who has a new Medium front and used Soft rear, is 14th just under a second from his teammate.

15.22 – Marco Bezzecchi does not improve, after setting a record in the first sector: the championship (and session) leader has switched to new Medium front tires.

15.20 – The standings after the first 20 minutes of Practice on this Catalan Friday.

15.19 – Davide Tardozzi on Sky explains why Bagnaia decided to stop immediately to change tires: the rider was suffering from abnormal vibrations and therefore preferred to switch to the second bike, which however was not set up optimally, and this is the reason for Pecco’s current delay (in terms of time and kilometers covered) compared to others.

15.17 – Pecco has returned to the pits not too satisfied with his session start. The Italian is 19th, 1.2 seconds behind Bezzecchi. Up high in the standings, no one improves for the moment.

15.14 – Pedro Acosta returns to the pits after overtaking the returning Maverick Vinales on track. The young Spanish KTM rider then returned to the pits after losing the aerodynamic cover on the front.

15.13 – Bagnaia starts very calmly: Pecco is 20th out of 22 riders, 1.8 seconds behind Bezzecchi’s best time.

15.11 – Bagnaia is currently the only one on track with Medium front tires, as all rivals have Softs. Barcelona footballer Marc Casado watches very closely from the official Ducati team pit wall as a guest.

15.10 – Slow start for Pecco Bagnaia: the Turin rider left the pits but then returned to the pit lane to change bikes and stayed still for a few minutes. Just now the two-time MotoGP champion returned to the track with his Ducati number 63.

15.08 – Behind Bezzecchi and Marquez we have Di Giannantonio, followed by Bastianini, Aldeguer, Morbidelli and Raul Fernandez. Closing the very provisional top-10 are Binder, Ogura and Moreira.

15.07 – Record in the first sector for Alex Marquez, who confirms himself quite sharp after the excellent FP1. The home rider, however, remains second, 83 thousandths behind “Bez”.

15.05 – Marco Bezzecchi takes the session lead in 1:39.062 and we are already almost a second faster than this morning’s times.

15.02 – All 22 riders are already on track to start setting fast laps. New Soft tires front and rear for everyone, at least for now.

15.00 – Green light and we go! Starting the 2026 Catalonia GP Practice sessions.

14.58 – Now to assess Jorge Martin’s condition, the Le Mans weekend dominator who slid this morning hitting his body probably on the bike before hitting the barriers. Nothing serious should have happened, although he feels a slight blow to an arm.

14.55 – Five minutes to the start of the second practice session. The weather is not perfect, with cloudy skies and the sun only occasionally peeking out. The asphalt is at 30°, with the air at only 16.

14.50 – In the VR46 box the highly anticipated team owner, Valentino Rossi, is seen. The Pesaro native is in the official team uniform, talking with the management of his team, led by his lifelong friend Alessio Salucci.

14.45 – Good afternoon to all of you, dear FormulaPassion.it readers! We are live again to tell you about Friday’s sessions in Barcelona, a free practice session that, as usual, awards ten of the 12 spots for tomorrow morning’s Q2. Ready? 15 minutes and we start with an hour of track activity.

Regarding the FP1 report, thank you for being with us. See you at 15:00 for the Practice report, we leave you with the complete results of the first free practice session of the Catalonia GP.

Here you find our in-depth report on what happened to Jorge Martin.

It is worth noting that Jorge Martin returned to the track to perform starting practice.

Below is the picture at the end of FP1.

Checkered flag

11.29 – Paolo Bonora on Sky about Martin: “Slight pain in the left arm, but after the first medical check everything seems fine. It seems he hit the bike at the end of the slide. Anyway, Jorge is fine”.

11.28 – Alex Marquez is the first to go under the 1’40” barrier, 1’39″950 for the Gresini rider.

11.27 – Alex Marquez with new tires took the lead in 1’40″021.

11.26 – Fortunately Martinator is fine, another physical knockout after Marc Marquez’s would have been heavy.

11.25 – Jorge Martin left his ‘office’ smiling and seems in excellent physical condition.

11.24 – At the moment Yamaha and Honda are in the top-10 with Miller eighth, Zarco ninth and Moreira tenth.

11.22 – Acosta restarted with the second bike.

11.20 – Bezzecchi and Bagnaia return to the track for the last run.

11.19 – Binder slid in the same spot as Acosta.

11.18 – This is the situation just over 10 minutes from the checkered flag.

11.16 – In the Aprilia box there is also Doctor Charte waiting for Jorge Martin.

11.15 – The session can continue, the barrier in Turn 12 does not need to be replaced.

11.14 – Jorge Martin seems quite in pain after the crash.

11.13 – The Aprilia rider lost the front in Turn 12. Pedro Acosta lost the front in Turn 2 and also fell.

11.12 – Crash for Jorge Martin.

11.11 – For genre lovers Aldeguer’s helmet is remarkable.

11.09 – Bezzecchi is very consistent on pace, laps in 40″3, 40″4.

11.07 – Bezzecchi had a few thousandths advantage at the third timing beam but lost it in T4.

11.05 – Positive sixth time so far for Fermin Aldeguer.

11.03 – Martin is literally lying on the curb in Turn 5.

11.00 – Bagnaia currently has problems with the front that tends to close. In the Ducati box they moved the tires to the second bike, now Pecco will go out with that one.

10.58 – This is the picture after the first minutes of FP1.

10.56 – Jorge Martin took the lead in 1’40″331, Di Giannantonio is second at 12 thousandths.

10.55 – Third time for Bastianini, fourth Alex Marquez. Both are Montmelò specialists.

10.53 – Pedro Acosta retakes the session lead in 1’40″388 ahead of Bezzecchi.

10.51 – Martin does better in 1’40″480, then goes wide braking in Turn 1.

10.50 – For now Pedro Acosta is the fastest in 1’40″807.

10.47 – Riders all started with Soft front and Medium rear tires.

10.45 – Green light at the end of the pit lane, the first free practice session of the MotoGP Catalonia GP begins.

10.30 – 13°C air temperature, already 30°C asphalt temperature.

Good morning dear FormulaPassion.it readers and welcome back to the live written coverage of FP1 and Practice of the 2026 Catalonia GP in the MotoGP class.

Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin are separated by only one point in the standings, in Barcelona one of the home heroes, Marc Marquez, will be absent due to the injury suffered during the Le Mans Sprint.

Ducati has not replaced the nine-time world champion and reigning champion, but there will still be 22 riders on track because Yamaha again fields Augusto Fernandez as a wild card.

Today’s program foresees the start of FP1 at 10:45, then from 15:00 to 16:00 riders will fight for direct access to Q2 in Practice.

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