Bezzecchi tops opening practice session at Buddh

MotoGP 2023

Round 13 – Indian Grand Prix

MotoGP FP1

Almost every MotoGP rider ran off at least once at turn one as they tried to find their braking markers for what looks like a tricky right hander at Buddh International Circuit. It should make for an exciting start to the races…

Most simply ran on and kept it upright but the first faller there was Brad Binder, however it was a fairly small off.  Twenty minutes or so later Takaaki Nakagami showed him how to do it properly, his LCR Honda somersaulting through the gravel trap as it destroyed itself.

Pol Espargaro went down softly twice with front end loses, but at different points of the circuit.

Fabio Quartararo had an early mechanical failure on the Yamaha that saw him have to park the YZR-M1 against the fence and hitch-hike his way back to the pit garage. Not long after going out again on the spare bike he had another gremlin strike the Yamaha that saw him roll to a stop and some locals then gave him a push some of the way back to the pits, before Fabio took over and pushed it himself all the way down pit-lane back to his pit garage. Both times it appeared as though the problem related to gearbox or clutch issues.  The problems robbed the Frenchman of plenty of important track time and the team must have deemed it a possible safety issue as they chose to not only keep Fabio in the pits, but also called an early mark for Franco Morbidelli. Bit of work to be done in the Yamaha pits before Friday’s second 70-minute session gets underway at 2000 (AEST) this evening.

Jorge Martin, Luca Marini and Marc Marquez were swapping places at the top of the time-sheets for the majority of the extended 70-minute FP1 session.

As the session drew to a close though Marco Bezzecchi knocked Jorge Martin off the top of the timing monitors. Then in the dying seconds Marc Marquez pushed Martin further down the order.

Marquez was then closely followed by Brad Binder, Raul Fernandez Maverick Vinales, Johann Zarco and Luca Marini who cumulatively pushed Jorge Martin all the way back to eighth place.

I don’t think Martin will be too worried by that though as while a couple of those in front of him only put in that one quick lap, Martin put in plenty of fast laps during the session on worn rubber.

The whole field, including the Yamaha riders went back out after the timers stopped for a practice start, some of which were a bit more exciting than they bargained for with big black lines left on the Indian tarmac. Bagnaia’s Ducati lit up so hard it went sideways and forced him to abort the start less than a metre down the track, not only once, but twice…  This issue was common to quite a few of the Ducati’s so the electronics fettlers will be pulling some torque out of the starting map ahead of FP2.

MotoGP Friday FP1 Resuts

1. M.Bezzecchi 1:45.990
2. M.Marquez +0.139
3. B.Binder +0.320
4. R.Fernandez +0.381
5. M.Viñales +0.488
6. J.Zarco +0.586
7. L.Marini +0.619
8. J.Martin +0.620
9. F.Di Giannantonio +0.788
10. J.Mir +0.815
11. A.Fernandez +0.837
12. T.Nakagami +0.976
13. A.Espargaro +0.984
14. A.Marquez +1.027
15. F.Bagnaia +1.060
16. J.Miller +1.381
17. M.Oliveira +1.429
18. P.Espargaro +1.490
19. F.Quartararo +1.524
20. M.Pirro +2.038
21. F.Morbidelli +2.115
22. S.Bradl +2.755

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MotoGP Championship Points

Moto2 FP1

1. Somkiat Chantra 01:52.5960
2. P. Acosta +0.282
3. Ai Ogura +0.899
4. Jake Dixon +0.961
5. Filip Salac +1.064
6. Tony Arbolino +1.160
7. Manuel Gonzalez +1.200
8. Joe Roberts +1.212
9. Dennis Foggia +1.242
10. Sam Lowes +1.242
11. Lukas Tulovic +1.344
12. Marcos Ramirez +1.396
13. Izan Guevara +1.511
14. Alonso Lopez +1.528
15. Zonta Van Den Goorbergh +1.542
16. Darryn Binder +1.568
17. Aron Canet +1.645
18. Rory Skinner +1.682
19. Bo Bendsneyder +1.779
20. Sean Dylan Kelly +2.066
21. Barry Baltus +2.079
22. Alberto Surra +2.199
23. Fermín Aldeguer +2.209
24. Sergio Garcia +2.216
25. Celestino Vietti +2.266
26. Taiga Hada +2.438
27. Jeremy Alcoba +2.467
28. Borja Gomez +2.625
29. Albert Arenas +3.268
30. Kohta Nozane +3.299

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3 FP1

1. Jaume Masia 02:00.3240
2. Diogo Moreira +0.141
3. Stefano Nepa +0.291
4. Matteo Bertelle +0.340
5. Romano Fenati  +0.363
6. Collin Veijer +0.453
7. Joel Kelso +0.626
8. Jose Antonio Rueda +0.736
9. Riccardo Rossi +1.049
10. Ayumu Sasaki +1.059
11. Ivan Ortola +1.158
12. David Salvador +1.208
13. Kaito Toba +1.305
14. Syarifuddin Azman +1.338
15. Xavier Artigas +1.376
16. Deniz Öncü +1.384
17. David Alonso +1.558
18. Ryusei Yamanaka +1.614
19. Filippo Farioli +1.778
20. Tatsuki Suzuki +1.783
21. Scott Ogden +2.114
22. Joshua Whatley +2.214
23. David Muñoz +2.338
24. Taiyo Furusato +2.374
25. Daniel Holgado +2.758
26. Lorenzo Fellon +2.781
27. Mario Suryo Aji +3.224
28. Danial Shahril +4.162
29. Ana Carrasco +4.550
30. K. Ahamed 02:08.2810

Moto3 Championship Points

Indian Grand Prix Schedule
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2023 MotoGP Calendar