Unharmed in two falls, Marc Marquez showed the outright pace to challenge consistently at the front while Pol Espargaro searched for the final tenths to make one lap improvements on his final weekend as a Honda rider.

The final Friday of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship season came to a close in Valencia as the last Grand Prix of the year began. Light gusts of winds persisted throughout the day but conditions remained stable as riders and teams began to work for Sunday. As always, the times were incredibly tight as 21 riders were within 0.8s in Free Practice 1.

Speed was clearly there for Marc Marquez as he returned to home soil after the flyaways, but it did not prove to be a straightforward day. Marquez suffered a small fall at Turn 2 during the first session, his team repairing his bike to return him to track just a few minutes later. In the afternoon he would have a second fall, this time at Turn 1. Unharmed in both incidents, the eight-time World Champion ended the day in fourth with a best lap of 1’30.390 in Free Practice 2. Battling a head cold, the eight-time World Champion is wokring to be fully prepared and fit to end the season in the best way possible come Sunday.

Pol Espargaro was one of the 21 riders within 0.8s in Free Practice 1 and then among the first to improve his time in FP2. Ultimately ending the day in 18th position, gaining just a few tenths would propel Espargaro up the timesheets given the nature of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. The #44 remains upbeat as day turns to night on Friday, his work with the medium tyres producing a stronger race pace. Just putting together the final ‘perfect lap’ in Free Practice 3 remains to be done.

The action continues on Saturday morning at 09:55 Local Time when the field will once again head out on track.

Marc Marquez

Fourth 1'30.390

“The day was positive, and I really attacked today, it’s why I crashed twice. I pushed from the start because I want to have a good weekend at the last race of the year. Let’s see what happens because everyone is quite strong here, you saw in FP2 that many people were able to make a step. Anyway, I’ll keep working and keep pushing. Maybe I crash again, but I am here to try to be as fast as I can be. Unfortunately, I am feeling quite sick this weekend with a cold and I’m taking a lot of vitamins and medicine to try and be as strong as possible on Sunday.”

Pol Espargaro

18th 1'31.249

“Our race pace today wasn’t too bad, we spent most of the day working with the medium tyre and before the time attacks started we were seventh. I feel quite good but today we didn’t really focus on the time attack, so we need to really go for in Free Practice 3. It won’t be easy, it’s never easy in MotoGP, but the situation is not as dire as it seems from the results sheet. Tomorrow in the morning it should be a bit cooler which should make the medium front work a little bit better. We have to smash that lap to get into Q2, that’s the main goal for tomorrow.”

MotoGP 2022
Practice Round 20   Valencia

Valencia Grand Prix Practice Results

Dry
Humidity
16%
Track Temp
36°C
Air Temp
24°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Marini Luca 10 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 1'30.217
2 Martin Jorge 89 SPA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.105
3 Miller Jack 43 AUS Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.128
4 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.173
5 Bastianini Enea 23 ITA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.177
6 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.205
7 Zarco Johann 5 FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.207
8 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.225
9 Bagnaia Francesco 62 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.230
10 Binder Brad 33 RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.302
11 Rins Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.490
12 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 0.597
13 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 0.673
14 Mir Joan 36 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.787
15 Bezzecchi Marco 73 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 0.797
16 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.799
17 Marquez Alex 73 SPA LCR Honda Honda 0.931
18 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1.032
19 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 1.128
20 Fernandez Raul SPA 1.381
21 Gardner Remy AUS 1.404
22 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 1.455
23 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 1.545
24 Binder Darryn 40 RSA WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 2.203
Location Information

The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana was completed in 1999 and held rounds of the MotoGP and Spanish Motorcycle Championships in the same year. The Cheste track has several layouts, running anti-clockwise with varying lengths. MotoGP events are held on a 4km track comprising of five right handed corners, eight… read more.

Length 4.005 kilometres / 2.489 miles
Width 12 metres
Left corners 9
Right corners 5
Longest straight 0.876 kilometres / 0.544 miles
Constructed 1999

Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Spain - View in Google Maps

www.circuitvalencia.com

Records

Pole Position 1m 28.931s (162.1km/h) Maverick Viñales (Aprilia, 2023)
Race Lap 1m 30.145s (159.9km/h) Brad Binder (KTM, 2023)
2023 Race Winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)
2023 Sprint Winner Jorge Martin (Ducati)