Espargaro Shatters Lap Record in Catalunya MotoGP Practice Amid High Drama and Crashes

Catalunya MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro clinches first position setting a new lap record during Friday's practice session

Aleix Espargaro grabs the lead, however, it turned out to be a disappointing day for Marc Marquez who couldn't make it into the top ten.

KTM showed a strong start in the second MotoGP practice session on Friday, with Jack Miller initially leading before his teammate Brad Binder surpassed him to take the lead.

Pedro Acosta maintained a quick pace even though he was caught up in a skirmish with Fabio Di Giannantonio as they exited the tenth turn.

Shortly after, Miller reclaimed his position at the forefront of the rankings, surpassing both Binder and Acosta, as Maverick Vinales experienced a loss of some rear bodywork just under five minutes into the practice session.

However, KTM's initial success was quickly overshadowed as Binder experienced a significant crash navigating turn two.

Binder briefly lost control of the front end as he exited turn one, resulting in the bike lifting from the asphalt and sliding out as he left the corner.

Equipped with upgraded aerodynamics on his factory Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo quickly found himself in need of fixes to his M1 following a front-end slide at turn five.

On Friday at Le Mans, Binder experienced three falls, and his string of crashes persisted into Catalunya, where he encountered another mishap by falling at turn two during the second practice session.

Despite the crash not being as severe this time, the rider from South Africa experienced another fall at the second turn.

Continuing the series of mishaps, Fabio Di Giannantonio also experienced a fall, joining fellow rider Fabio Quartararo in a crash at turn five.

Marc Marquez was among the initial racers to start using soft tyres, but despite improving his time and advancing to fifth place, Marquez couldn't achieve a significant lap time.

Maverick Vinales was the subsequent rider to make an attempt, and he managed to significantly improve his lap time, securing the fastest position ahead of Miller.

Yamaha's Alex Rins showcased an outstanding acceleration, advancing to fifth position with a remarkable surge.

Vinales enhanced his performance just before his teammate, Aleix Espargaro, took the lead with a time just under 1 minute and 39 seconds.

The lead changed hands once more when Martin narrowly missed out on surpassing his previous season's fastest lap.

Martin clocked in yet another record-breaking lap time with his subsequent attempt, as his teammate from Pramac Ducati, Franco Morbidelli, advanced to the fifth position.

Shortly after Martin's lap, Morbidelli closely mirrored his performance, while Di Giannantonio experienced his second crash, this incident occurring at turn ten.

Acosta climbed to the second position, just 0.011 seconds behind Martin, which resulted in Binder dropping out of the top ten.

A dramatic turn of events unfolded for Gresini Ducati when Alex Marquez was involved in a crash. This incident not only impacted him but also resulted in his brother Marc missing out on direct qualification for Q2 spots.

At the forefront, Aleix Espargaro secured the leading position by setting a new lap record, surpassing Binder and Acosta.

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