MotoGP Valencia GP: Vinales tops second practice, Bagnaia in Q1 for finale
With 21 points splitting factory Ducati rider Bagnaia and Pramac’s Martin coming into this weekend’s final e, Friday’s second practice was a crucial session. Martin won this particular battle by ending up second behind Aprilia’s Vinales, who posted a new lap record of 1m29.142s to end the day fastest of all. Bagnaia could only manage 15th after his final lap was scuppered by yellow flags for a crash, though he impeded himself further by getting involved in Game smanship with title rival Martin. The session began with Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio setting the early pace with a 1m30.076s on his year-old Ducati as he looks to secure his MotoGP future for 2024 with VR46 Ducati. Then followed three crashes in quick succession, with Aleix Espargaro, Marco Bezzecchi and Augusto Fernandez coming off at Turns 1, 8 and 14 respectively. Moments later, LCR Honda’s Alex Rins would add himself to the crash heap at Turn 1 while Di Giannantonio improved to ...