Following Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix – won by Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia – the MotoGP paddock stayed at Jerez for an extra day for the first in-season test of 2022.
The day began at 10am local time, with Honda’s Pol Espargaro topping the first hour with a 1m37.556s as HRC began a vital test following its difficult 2022 season thus far on its radically revised RC213V.
But disaster struck fellow Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami around 10 minutes into hour two, when the LCR rider crashed at Turn 1 and brought out a red flag.
Nakagami was taken to the medical centre for scans on his knee, and though no fractures were found he headed to Barcelona for further scans.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo topped hour two with a 1m37.504s after finishing a close second to Bagnaia in Sunday’s Spanish GP.
Quartararo tested a new swingarm aimed at improving rear grip, as well as trialling a new front fender and Brembo’s new 355mm brake discs that will be used at hard-braking tracks such as Red Bull Ring, Motegi and Buriram later this year.
The day proved to be crash-strewn as conditions were cooler than they were at the weekend, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, RNF Racing’s Darryn Binder on two occasions, his KTM-mounted brother Brad Binder and Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM) all taking tumbles.
Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
By the end of hour three, Pramac’s Zarco had taken over at the top of the timesheets with a 1m37.136s.
He too would crash with just under four hours of the session remaining, but his lap time would go unchallenged through to the chequered flag.
The session would be red-flagged for a second time with around an hour and 45 minutes to go when Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori suffered an issue which left fluid on circuit.
This led to a stoppage of around 40 minutes, with Aprilia’s Vinales stopping at Turn 1 in the final hour when action resumed.
Few riders took to the track after the…
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