Spanish MotoGP, Jerez – Friday Practice Results

* Rookie

Official Jerez MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 36.170s (2022)
Fastest race lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 37.669s (2022)

KTM wild-card Dani Pedrosa, competing at Jerez for the first time since 2018, rolled back the years by leading the opening session for the 2023 Spanish MotoGP.

The Spanish star, who like fellow wild-card Stefan Bradl (Honda) has taken part in private tests at the track this year, was leading the session when new-tyre time attacks began – something he is not familiar with due to the limited test tyre allocation.

But after being pushed down the order, Pedrosa responded on his final lap to snatch the top spot back by 0.034s from Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) to the delight of the KTM team and local fans.

Pedrosa was using a larger square-shaped wing on the back of his RC16 plus other new aero parts on his RC16.

LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, who counts Jerez as his favourite track, had been first to topple Pedrosa in the final minutes, using new soft tyres, on his way to third.

VR46’s Luca Marini claimed a late fourth, followed by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder, Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez and Binder’s team-mate Jack Miller.

2022 Jerez winner and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia, who has given away 45 points with accidents in the last rounds, was ninth with Maverick Vinales completing the top ten.

Having suffered at the starts in Texas, Vinales did several practice starts out of pit lane during the session, as he seeks to refine the RS-GP’s clutch release.

COTA winner Alex Rins took his LCR Honda to twelfth place, behind Johann Zarco, having apparently settled on the original RCV chassis after trying Marc Marquez’s design in Termas. “Alex made the difference in COTA,” team-mate Nakagami said on Thursday, ruling out special parts or set-up being behind the Spaniard’s victory.

RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira was the first rider to break the 1m 38s barrier and remained on top of the timesheets through the middle stages, on his way to 13th.

World championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was 14th, with Monster Yamaha Fabio Quartararo just 18th – but did not fit new soft tyres at the end.

Team-mate Franco Morbidelli tried new, longer, KTM-style exhausts on his way to 20th.

Enea Bastianini, looking to restart his debut season at the factory Ducati team after a fractured shoulder following contact from  Marini in the Portimao sprint, was 20th.

Iker Lecuona, making his Repsol Honda debut in place of the injured Marc Marquez, began the weekend last of the 24 riders.

• Jerez: Latest Moto2 results
• Jerez: Latest Moto3 results

While Enea Bastianini is returning to action after being side-lined by shoulder injuries in the season-opening sprint race, Marc Marquez is missing his third event in a row due to hand injuries sustained in his collision with Miguel Oliveira in Portimao.

The eight time world champion is being replaced at Jerez by Honda WorldSBK rider Iker Lecuona, who raced in MotoGP for Tech3 KTM during the 2020 and 2021 seasons with a best finish of sixth place. Lecuona, 23, took a WorldSBK podium last season and is currently ninth in the early 2023 standings.

31-time MotoGP winner Dani Pedrosa is also re-joining the premier-class grid this weekend, as a KTM wild-card. It is Pedrosa’s first grand prix appearance since Austria 2021 and first at Jerez since his final full-time season, at Repsol Honda, in 2018.

Pol Espargaro continues to recover from multiple injuries in Portugal and is again replaced at Tech3 by Pedrosa’s fellow KTM test rider Jonas Folger.