Austria – EL1: Pramac double, KTM in the running

Le MotoGP officially begins its second part of the season this weekend, with the eleventh round of its 2024 season which will take place in Austria. At home, KTM will try to overturn the domination established by Ducati over many events, and will be able to count on its five representatives – with Pol Espargaro – to make the brand shine. THE Red Bull Ring will also be the scene of the ever more intense fight between Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin, who are separated by only three points before the first awards.

ALSO READ > The schedule for the 2024 Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix

Free Practice 1: 

• The drivers are looking for the limit at the start of the session and the crashes keep coming. Aleix Espargaro, Marco Bezzecchi and Brad Binder will be the first to lose control. No. 41 will experience another crash a few minutes later.
• On the timing side, as expected, the fight is between KTM and Ducati. While Pol Espargaro and Brad Binder were the first to take control of the driving session, Pecco Bagnaia and Franco Morbidelli were quick to respond.
• The ranking will only change very little, before the drivers pick up the pace in the final moments. It was then Jorge Martin who took control of the operations with a time of 1:29.654.
• Moments later, Pedro Acosta crashed at turn 4, and somewhat damaged the tire wall with his machine, also leaving debris on the track. The decision to wave the red flag came quickly.
• Free practice 1 will not stop there, and many drivers will leave the pit lane again to take full advantage of the last three minutes granted to them.

Towards a KTM-Ducati duel?

• The top of the table does not change, however, and Jorge Martin marks his territory in Austria ahead of his teammate, Franco Morbidelli.
• The Wildcard KTM, Pol Espargaro signs a superb third place for the local manufacturer. Brad Binder completes the top-5 ahead of Pedro Acosta. These are only free practice 1 and you will have to watch the times when the serious things begin. However, we can begin to believe in a KTM-Ducati duel on the lands of the first city.
• Author of an anonymous start to the session, Marc Marquez only claims 23rd place a few minutes from the end of the allotted time. During its last attempts, the No. 93 rose to 17th position, then to 9th. It remains to be determined the reasons for this poor performance before entering the test session.
• Meet at around 15:00 p.m. to take part in the tests for this 2024 MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix.

MotoGP Austria – FP1 classification

Ranking : MotoTiming