The Circuit of Jerez - Angel Nieto has welcomed the MotoGP™ paddock for the fourth round of the 2021 Championship, and the classic Spanish GP is sure to be a wild one, with perfect weather and tight times due to dominate proceedings.

Team Suzuki Ecstar got off to a steady start in the morning’s FP1, which saw much cooler conditions than last year’s summer slot at the circuit. Joan Mir had a few issues which delayed him joining the action, but after that both he and Alex Rins reported good feelings onboard their GSX-RRs and they were able to close the session, which saw the top 19 covered by one second, in 10th and 14th respectively.

Conditions were optimum for FP2, and the Suzuki pair set about putting in some long consistent runs, gradually bringing down their lap times, before doing a short time attack at the end of the session. Both Mir and Rins managed to get themselves into the Top 10 with just minutes to go, but they were shuffled back a few places by the time the chequered flag was out, the team closed Friday with Rins in eighth and Mir in 13th.


Ken Kawauchi - Technical Manager:

“The first day in Jerez has been so-so for us due to a few issues in FP1 and that delayed our work on the settings. But we were able to make up for this in FP2 and the riders began to prepare for the race, and we were quite happy with the feelings and pace. There are still more improvements to make so we’ll work on this in the morning and in FP3 we’ll try to do some fast flying laps.”

Alex Rins:

“It was a good day and I finished up in eighth, although I expected that I would be closer to my rivals when I put the soft tyre in, and able to set a slightly faster lap. But I’m ready to push again tomorrow. This morning in FP1 I was struggling a bit with the bike, but we fixed the issue and I felt good after that. I think tomorrow will be very close, and even FP3 will be like a qualifying session!”

Joan Mir:

“We had some trouble at the start of the day with the electronics on the bike, and I lost a bit of time, so I ended up doing a lot of laps on the medium tyre and I didn’t really get the chance to do a time attack with a soft tyre. But even on the used tyre my feeling was quite good and I’m happy about that. Bike problems are all part of the game, and we solved it quickly, so I’m ready for tomorrow.”

GRAN PREMIO RED BULL DE ESPAÑA - Combined Classification after DAY1:

1. F. BAGNAIA - Ducati Lenovo Team - 01:37.209
2. F. QUARTARARO - Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP - 01:37.387 +0.178
3. A. ESPARGARO - Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 01:37.646 +0.437
4. F. MORBIDELLI - Petronas Yamaha SRT - 01:37.704 +0.495
5. M. VIÑALES - Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP - 01:37.726 +0.517
6. T. NAKAGAMI - LCR Honda IDEMITSU - 01:37.775 +0.566
7. M. OLIVEIRA - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 01:37.816 +0.607
8. A. RINS - Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 01:37.847 +0.638
9. J. ZARCO - Pramac Racing - 01:37.888 +0.679
10. B. BINDER - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 01:37.896 +0.687
11. S. BRADL - Honda HRC - 01:37.939 +0.730
12. J. MILLER - Ducati Lenovo Team - 01:37.965 +0.756
13. J. MIR - Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 01:38.040 +0.831
14. P. ESPARGARO - Repsol Honda Team - 01:38.115 +0.906
15. L. MARINI - SKY VR46 Avintia - 01:38.274 +1.065
16. M. MARQUEZ - Repsol Honda Team - 01:38.291 +0.278
17. D. PETRUCCI - Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing - 01:38.462 +1.253
18. E. BASTIANINI - Avintia Esponsorama - 01:38.516 +1.307
19. L. SAVADORI - Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 01:38.594 +1.385
20. A. MARQUEZ - LCR Honda CASTROL - 01:38.618 +1.409
21. V. ROSSI - Petronas Yamaha SRT - 01:38.698 +1.489
22. I. LECUONA - Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing - 01:38.713 +1.504
23. T. RABAT - Pramac Racing - 01:39.023 +1.814