Martin barrier scare in opening Barcelona MotoGP practice
Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez headed the opening MotoGP practice session of the Catalan Grand Prix weekend at Barcelona, as Jorge Martin suffered a scary crash.
Championship frontrunner Martin, one point behind points-leading Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi in the standings, followed his bike into the Turn 12 air fence after crashing and looked shaken up by the incident.
He was looked over by MotoGP medical officer Dr Angel Charte upon arriving back to the paddock, but did return to the track for the post-session practice starts.
"The problem was the hit with the bike. Turn 12, he suffered the crash and when the bike jumped in the air fence, he was in that place," confirmed Aprilia team manager Paolo Bonora.
"So, at the moment still a little bit of pain but Dr Charte says that it seems everything is OK.
"For sure we will check after the session fully. It seems to be [pain in] the left forearm."
Martin had led the session at the moment of the crash, and ended up classified in second, beaten only by Marquez - who had improved on new tyres.
Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Bezzecchi completed the top five.
Acosta had had a crash at Turn 2 moments after Martin's fall, while team-mate Brad Binder went down at the same corner as Acosta later on.
With reigning champion Marc Marquez absent through injury, Pecco Bagnaia was 17th as the sole factory Ducati rider.
He was two places and a tenth of a second up on the returning Maverick Vinales, back on the KTM after a three-grand prix injury absence.
1 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) 1m39.950s
2 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +0.349s
3 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.393s
4 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.438s
5 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.472s
6 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +0.486s
7 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +0.493s
8 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +0.516s
9 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.563s
10 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +0.594s
11 Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) +0.616s
12 Brad Binder (KTM) +0.652s
13 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.753s
14 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.769s
15 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.783s
16 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.820s
17 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.940s
18 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.992s
19 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +1.029s
20 Augusto Fernandez (Yamaha) +1.395s
21 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +1.517s
22 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) +1.990s
