Jorge Martin (89) and Joan Mir (36). Photo by Michael Gougis.
It was an emotional opening day of the Motul Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona. Organizers flew banners and raised money for the victims of the flooding that forced MotoGP to move the race scheduled for Valencia to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It also was emotional for three MotoGP riders – Augusto Fernandez, Takaaki Nakagami and Aleix Espargaro – who are racing for the last time in their careers.
With nothing to lose and a title on the line, Francesco Bagnaia pushed hard and topped the last practice session. With the temperature dropping precipitiously at the end of the day, Championship leader Jorge Martin tried to respond when title rival Bagnaia went quickest. Martin pushed the front and nearly crashed, saving a front-end slide that left his feet off the pegs.
Takaaki Nakagami (30) started his last weekend as a MotoGP racer by going fastest in the first practice session. Photo by Michael Gougis.
Honda had a remarkably good day in Barcelona. Not only did Takkaki Nakagami lead the first practice session, Johann Zarco (5) led much of the second session and ultimately finished fourth. Photo by Michael Gougis.
Aleix Espargaro (41) was third at a track where he won in 2023 and led Aprilia to its first 1-2 finish in MotoGP. Photo by Michael Gougis.
On the American Racing Team Kalex, Jorge Navarro (9) followed up on his second-place finish in the Moto2 race in Malaysia by finishing Friday practice just outside of the top three in Barcelona. Photo by Michael Gougis.
Part of the proceeds from ticket sales for the Barcelona race will be donated to flood relief efforts in the Valencia region. Photo by Michael Gougis.
Staging a MotoGP event is a massive operation. With only days to prepare for the race in Barcelona, MotoGP employees on Friday were still cranking out the promotional and informational materials needed for the weekend. Here a large-format printer in the mobile MotoGP print shop spits out a poster for one of the auctions to raise money for the Valencia flood victims. MotoGP rolls a large-scale printing facility to all of its European races and flies a scaled-down version to the overseas events. Photo by Michael Gougis.
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