Alex Rins took the lead in the first practice session for the Catalan Grand Prix, setting a time of 1:40.101s in the final stages to beat Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.
The Friday morning session was relatively calm, with the teams and riders concentrating on preparing for Sunday’s race on used tyres. Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli led the way for the majority of the test, indicating a significant improvement for the Italian, who has only one top ten result so far in the current season.
Rins, on the other hand, went out for a quick run in the closing laps and dutifully climbed to the front of the times with a 1:40.631s effort before improving by almost a half-second on his next tour to leave the rest well behind.
Throughout the remainder of the session, his time would not be beaten, though his lead would be cut to 0.195s by Vinales, who put together a nice lap on his RS-GP near the conclusion. Morbidelli would finish third, ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and his brother Pol Espargaro finished fifth on his factory Honda.
Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez of LCR Honda finished sixth and seventh, ahead of Miguel Oliveira of KTM, with Joan Mir on the second Suzuki GSX-RR and Enea Bastianini of Gresini Ducati rounding out the top 10.
Fabio Quartararo, the reigning MotoGP world champion, rode the entire session on a single pair of tyres, prioritising his racing performance on way to 13th place in the timings, ahead of Francesco Bagnaia, who did the same.
In the final minutes, Raul Fernandez was the fastest rookie, finishing 12th after opting for a new soft-compound rear tyre. Mugello standouts Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini, and Italian GP pole-man Fabio Di Gianantonio finished 16th, 17th, and 19th, respectively.
The only crash of the day was Jorge Martin, who went down at Turn 2 with around a quarter of the test remaining – the Spaniard quickly recovering and returning to his box unharmed.
CATALUNYA MOTOGP, BARCELONA – FREE PRACTICE (1) RESULTS
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/DIFF | LAP | MAX |
| 1 | Alex Rins | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | 1’40.101s | 17/20 | 350k |
| 2 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.195s | 19/19 | 348k |
| 3 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.594s | 6/19 | 342k |
| 4 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.607s | 8/18 | 348k |
| 5 | Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.632s | 13/20 | 347k |
| 6 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +0.767s | 5/20 | 344k |
| 7 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +0.771s | 19/21 | 348k |
| 8 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.800s | 5/18 | 346k |
| 9 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.806s | 4/15 | 348k |
| 10 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21) | +0.930s | 8/17 | 347k |
| 11 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.948s | 6/20 | 348k |
| 12 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +0.982s | 17/18 | 346k |
| 13 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.003s | 4/22 | 343k |
| 14 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +1.004s | 7/18 | 348k |
| 15 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +1.056s | 7/21 | 346k |
| 16 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)* | +1.113s | 7/18 | 347k |
| 17 | Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | +1.142s | 10/20 | 345k |
| 18 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +1.179s | 9/20 | 347k |
| 19 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21)* | +1.212s | 16/16 | 343k |
| 20 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +1.219s | 12/17 | 344k |
| 21 | Remy Gardner | AUS | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +1.229s | 17/19 | 343k |
| 22 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) | +1.357s | 6/19 | 341k |
| 23 | Stefan Bradl | GER | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +1.781s | 6/18 | 345k |
| 24 | Darryn Binder | RSA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)* | +1.833s | 11/20 | 338k |
| 25 | Michele Pirro | ITA | Aruba.it Racing (GP22) | +1.879s | 4/17 | 342k |
