Sawt Falasteen - Bagnaia revving up for Jerez MotoGP qualifying

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Bagnaia revving up for Jerez MotoGP qualifying / Photo: JAVIER SORIANO - AFP

Bagnaia revving up for Jerez MotoGP qualifying

SPORTS 30.04.2022

Ducati's Italian rider Francesco Bagnaia signalled a return to form by topping the free practice times for the Spanish MotoGP ahead of championship leader Fabio Quartararo on Saturday.

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The pair will do battle for pole position in qualifying at the Jerez circuit later in the day for the sixth race of the 21-race season on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Bagnaia ran Quartararo a close second for the title in 2021 but made a poor start to this season before declaring that he was starting to "feel better on the bike" after an eight-place finish in last weekend's race in Portugal.

Defending world champion Quartararo is running high on confidence after his win last weekend and flung his Yamaha round the track just a fraction of a second slower than Bagnaia.

In bright sunshine the Japanese Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami was third on the fast, dry track.

Six-time world champion Marc Marquez was fourth on the track where he has won three times at this level but also one on which he fell heavily, leading to a long injury lay-off in 2020.

Selected free practice times

1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 1min 36.782sec, 2. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) at 0.067sec, 3. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 0.117, 4. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.143, 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 0.193, 6. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Ducati-Gresini) 0.194, 7. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 0.277, 8. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki) 0.278, 9. Jorge Martin (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) 0.292, 10. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati) 0.342

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST

Sawt Falasteen - Bagnaia revving up for Jerez MotoGP qualifying

Bagnaia revving up for Jerez MotoGP qualifying

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