Marini makes Q2 again as Barcelona GP begins
Hard work and upgrades continued to propel the Honda HRC Castrol team forward at Round 15 of the World Championship, Luca Marini earning a spot in the top ten while barely a tenth of a second separated Joan Mir.
Sun, a steady flow of passionate fans and just tenths of a second making the difference were the orders of the day in typical MotoGP style. Luca Marini and Joan Mir were at the centre of the action as the pair worked through several new items for their Honda RC213V machines. Signs were positive from both sides of the Honda HRC Castrol garage as the progress from previous rounds continued in Barcelona.
Luca Marini proved his performance in Hungary was no one off as he secured a top ten position on Friday and direct passage to Q2 in back-to-back races for the first time as a Honda HRC rider. Consistently inside the top five for both sessions, a best time of 1’38.522 secured him ninth when the afternoon time attacks came.
Progress was steady for Joan Mir as well, the 2020 World Champion improving by one and a half second between sessions. 13th overall, Mir was just over a tenth of a second shy of Ogura in tenth place despite missing out on a few final details having spent the morning adjusting to the track.
Saturday will surely be another exciting day of progress for both Honda HRC Castrol riders.
Luca Marini
“Our performance today was better than I was expecting honestly, from FP1 I was feeling good with the bike, and I was able to be competitive the entire day. It feels like there is a bit more grip here compared to our last visit. I’m still recovering from a virus I’ve had all week but it’s not limiting us too much. We’ve been working really hard the last two years so it’s good to see these improvements today. Tomorrow I’ll keep working on comparing the two bikes that we have.”
Joan Mir
“Today we have been working a lot with different chassis options to understand them at a different kind of circuit. We spent the first part of the day changing the setup to suit the Barcelona track, a lot of work to do which took up some time. For the time attack we found a good setting, and I was able to make an improvement with my pace, we were very close to the top ten and just a few small things saw us miss out. For tomorrow we have margin, so we need to work a lot overnight to realise it.”
Catalan GP - Friday Combined Times
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 01'38.141 |
| 2 | Acosta Pedro | 37 | SPA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 0.104 |
| 3 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 0.139 |
| 4 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.224 |
| 5 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 0.262 |
| 6 | Bastianini Enea | 23 | ITA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 0.349 |
| 7 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.370 |
| 8 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | LCR Honda | Honda | 0.370 |
| 9 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | Honda HRC Castrol | Honda | 0.381 |
| 10 | Ogura Ai | 79 | JPN | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 0.458 |
| 11 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 0.461 |
| 12 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.515 |
| 13 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | Honda HRC Castrol | Honda | 0.589 |
| 14 | Aldegeur Fermin | 54 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 0.619 |
| 15 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.633 |
| 16 | Rins Alex | 42 | SPA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 0.691 |
| 17 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.774 |
| 18 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 0.841 |
| 19 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 0.883 |
| 20 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | HRC Test Team | Honda | 1.016 |
| 21 | Bagnaia Francesco | 63 | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 1.029 |
| 22 | Savadori Lorenzo | 32 | ITA | Aprilia Test Team | Aprilia | 1.045 |
| 23 | Vinales Maverick | 25 | SPA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 1.167 |
| 24 | Chantra Somkiat | 35 | THA | LCR Honda | Honda | 1.861 |
Location Information
In 1989, through the joint collaboration of the Catalan Autonomous Government, the Montmeló Town Council and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC), work began on giving one of Europe’s most beautiful cities a state of the art race track to match. The Circuit de Catalunya opened on the doorstep… read more.
| Length | 4.627 kilometres / 2.875 miles |
| Width | 12 metres |
| Left corners | 5 |
| Right corners | 8 |
| Longest straight | 1.047 kilometres / 0.651 miles |
| Constructed | 1991 |
| Modified | 2018 |
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló, Catalunya, Spain - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m38.190s (170.7km/h) Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia, 2024) |
| Race Lap | 1m39.664 (168.2km/h) Pedro Acosta (KTM, 2024) |
| Race Time | 40'11.726 (166.8km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati,2024) |
| 2024 Sprint Winners | Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) / Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2024 Race Winners | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) / Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
