#TheRematch decider has been turned up a notch with the reigning Champion finding Friday form and the title leader enduring some Practice troubles.
Day 1 of #TheRematch decider at the Motul Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona belonged to the hunter – Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). The reigning #1 set the pace on Friday to land an important early jab on World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), as the latter managed to hold onto a fifth place finish after encountering some Turn 5 troubles deep into Practice. It’s job done in terms of getting into Q2 without too many issues for the #89, but there’s plenty of room for improvement for the rider who sits 24 points clear of the current #1 with the biggest Saturday of the season firmly on the horizon.
Operating inside the top three on Day 1 was second fastest – and one of Bagnaia’s chief allies – Marco Bezzecchi. The Italian was on song in Practice as he aims to bid farewell to the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team with a podium finish at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. And if Day 1 is anything to go by, then the Italian is looking good to challenge for just that. P3 went the way of Catalan GP Tissot Sprint winner Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) after the retiring home hero set a strong lap in the closing stages to sit 0.107s off Bagnaia’s lap.
Following a relatively quiet opening three-quarters of the session as the riders flicked through their respective programmes, the session really kicked into sixth gear with just under 15 minutes remaining. Traditions. And speaking of traditions, Martin climbed to a familiar P1 with a 1:39.652 and on his next flyer, a 1:39.214 was landed to see the World Championship leader sit 0.330s clear of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing). At this stage (10 minutes to go) Bagnaia was fifth, just under half a second down on his title rival’s effort. 
That three-tenth advantage was slashed to just 0.010s as Viñales improved. Then, one of the standout riders of the season demoted Martin to P2. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) set a 1:39.197 to grab top spot, with the top five now split by less than a tenth. Those were Zarco, Martin, Viñales, Bagnaia and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™).
Heading into the final four minutes, Martin couldn’t get a lap going and at Turn 5, the Spaniard produced a more than decent front-end save. The #89 cut a frustrated figure as Bezzecchi propelled his GP23 to P1 before Bagnaia went 0.080s quicker than his compatriot to pinch P1 off his VR46 Academy stablemate.
With a minute to go, Martin was P5 and not going any quicker, but he looked out of danger in terms of not getting into Q2. No one else was improving enough to trouble the sharp end of the timesheets, so it was job done for #TheRematch contenders. Bagnaia was top of the class on Friday, and Martin was fifth without too many dramas. Roll on qualifying.
Zarco’s incredibly impressive Friday afternoon stint saw the Frenchman keep hold of P4 ahead of Martin, with Viñales, Alex Marquez, his teammate Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) acting as the other riders who clinched automatic Q2 spots, as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) missed out in P11 by just 0.020s.
So that’s the final Friday of the year done. Bagnaia heads into a title-defining Saturday at the summit, exactly where he wanted to be. Martin faces match point Saturday in P5, but that could all change when qualifying comes around. And what a session it promises to be. What a day it’s set to be. Will Martin end the Tissot Sprint as the new World Champion, or will Bagnaia do what he needs to do to take the title fight to Sunday? In less than 24 hours, we’ll know the answer. Bring it on.
SHOWTIME
FP2: 10:00 (UTC+1)
Q1: 10:50
Q2: 11:15
Tissot Sprint: 15:00
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