Spanish MotoGP: Statement performance from record setting Bagnaia

The second session of the day saw the lap record broken twice, but it was Bagnaia’s late effort which saw him finish Friday ahead of his rivals for the Ducati Lenovo Team.

After sitting in twelfth following the first session, the Italian was unfazed and able to chip away at his time. After a spell just inside the top ten working on his set up, the reigning champion returned to the pits- along with the whole field for a last flying lap.

Those final runs were instantly halted by a crash for Brad Binder, who was destined to go top with red sectors before his spill.

By this time Bagnaia had chipped away to be in behind the time of then leader Maverick Vinales, the first rider to breach the old lap record.

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The #1 plate kept going and this time went top - with a new record of hos own - a 1m 36.025s lap.

Vinlaes remained second for Aprilia with his lap, which was just 0.100s slower.

Marc Marquez looked to be near the limit all session but kept his Gresini Ducati upright for third overnight.

It was a strong day for Ducati overall with seven bikes inside the top ten and automatically moving to Q2.

Those included Marco Bezzecchi, who was another constant near the top, his competitive lapping brought fourth for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 satellite team.

Championship leader briefly lead before the lap records came in on his way to fifth for Prima
Pramac, just ahead of rookie Pedro Acosta - impressive again as he was the only KTM automatically in Q2.

Last season Aleix Espargaro lead this session and went on to secure pole, while not quite in that position the pace both he and his Aprilia teammate showed meant he is not out of contention to repeat the feat on Saturday. He sits a close seventh overnight.

The final places in the top ten to move directly to the second qualifying session went to Fabio Di Giannantonio after he was a fixture near the top of the times, only dropping late on to ninth on the second VR46 bike and the first session leader Alex Marquez in tenth.

Brad Binder just missed out after his big late fall and he was not alone in crashing, the spills came thick and fast in the hour long session with Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira, Dani Pedrosa, Alex Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Marco Bezzecchi, and Raul Fernandez all taking a turn in the gravel. 

Vinales fall was probaby the most dangerous as it left both rider and bike on the track, with all the riders behind avoiding his off.

The timing of the crashes played into who made the top ten, with several riders just missing out as they did not have ample time to recover.

Despite his fall, Pedrosa was the best of the wildcard entries at Jerez, placing 14th on the KTM.