Binder dominates the MotoGP ‘Practice’ in Motegi ahead of Marc Márquez and Martín

The South African rider Brad Binder (KTM) surprised the favorites and was the fastest this Friday in the MotoGP ‘Practice’ of the Japanese Grand Prix, the sixteenth round of the Motorcycle World Championship, ahead of the Spanish Marc Márquez (Ducati) and Jorge Martín, leader of the championship who won the first duel against the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).

The first contact at the Motegi circuit, where rain appeared in the morning, left Binder as the fastest of the day and the hope that the KTM will be back in the fight after the good performance also offered by the Spanish ‘rookie’ Pedro Acosta, who has just finished second last Sunday in the Indonesian Grand Prix.

After a free session marked by rain and which left the first head-to-head between Bagnaia and Martín, the best separated by just a tenth, the ‘Practice’ was already in dry conditions and brought no surprises, with all the favorites and candidates passing the cut to go directly to ‘Q2’.

It was a training session where a lot of equality was evident, with the seven best times very close, all in 1:43 and with just three tenths of a difference. The honor of being the best went to Brad Binder who clocked a great 1:43.436 in the final stretch of the session to surpass the World Championship leader in the time table, who has the fastest lap record in Motegi (1:43.198) on pole in 2023.

He was not the only one who surpassed Martín because after the South African, just 33 thousandths behind, Marc Márquez sneaked in on his last attempt to leave the Madrid driver in third position with 1:43.568, just 15 thousandths better than the Murcian Pedro Acosta.

The Pramac Racing driver proved to be strong and finished on Friday ahead of his main rival in the fight for the title, Bagnaia who finished seventh, almost two tenths behind the Spaniard and also surpassed by his compatriot and teammate Enea Bastianini, and by the Catalan Maverick Viñales (Aprilia).

Already within 1:44, the Ducatis of Spaniard Alex Márquez and Italians Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi completed the ‘Top 10’, while Repsol Honda riders Joan Mir and Luca Marini were sixteenth and twenty-first, respectively.

On the other hand, in Moto3, the best on Friday was the Spanish Iván Ortolá (KTM), who set the circuit record (1:55.550) and just over a tenth of an advantage over his compatriot Ángel Piqueras (Honda) and the leader of the championship, the Colombian David Alonso (CFMoto). In Moto2, the Czech Filip Salac (Kalex) dominated, also with a new fastest lap record (1:49.716), just 46 thousandths faster than the Spanish Arón Canet, with the Japanese Ai Ogura (Boscoscuro), first classified in the World Championship, fourth, and with Sergio García Dols (Boscoscuro) staying out of the ‘Top 10’ (17th).