Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing) ran fastest in Practice on day one of the inaugural MotoGP Indian Grand Prix. Marini edged out championship contender Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) by 0.008 seconds. In third was Aleix Espargaro who was only 0.035 second behind. The top three in the session were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Marquez Finishes P4
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) returned to form in Practice finishing P4. After the session he stated, “When we arrive at a new track it’s true that I am able to quickly find the limit of the track. From FP1 I was there and in FP2 we were able to stay there even if we lost a little bit of margin as the overall grip came up. But finally, we were able to get a spot in Q2, which is the target, but I think many riders will make a step tomorrow.”
“The front three rows of the grid and the objective for tomorrow and then let’s see what happens in the Sprint. The heat here is different to at other tracks but I don’t think it will be a big issue for tomorrow, for the long race on Sunday we will have to see.” Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing) who’s title hopes are dwindling as of late finished P5 to round out the top 5.
The session started off with a 45 minute delay due to poor track conditions. The delay lasted 45 minutes before riders could head out. Amidst early week controversy that the track was not going to be complete and ready by the race weekend. There is speculation that some of those worries came to life with this delay. However, the show went on and the Practice session did take place so there is some positive to come out of the situation. Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) struggled to find form and never contended for the top spot in the session.
Full Practice Results are Below