MotoGP Jerez, Day 1: Petrucci in the Ducati double, Lorenzo progresses with Honda

The Ducati made the big voice on the first day of the MotoGP collective test in Jerez de la Frontera, monopolizing the first two places, with Danilo Petrucci who took his first satisfaction since he went to wear the red of the official team.

Terni's driver was the fastest, the only one able to cross the 1 "38 mark, signing a 1" 37 "968 during the 44th of 53 laps completed today. A performance that allowed him to leave behind 217 thousandths of the sister of GP Desmosedici, Andrea Dovizioso. It must be said however that the Forlì in the final of the day slipped just after marking a "red helmet" in the first sector.

The real revelation of the day is the name in third place, as Takaaki Nakagami has made an appointment, bringing his Team LCR Honda to third place, only 380 thousandths of the best performance of " Petrux ". , but especially in front of two "sacred monsters" like Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo.

The reigning world champion continued the work with the two black RC213Vs, then the 2019 specification, bringing a new aerodynamic look to the track for the first time. The most interesting thing for HRC, however, is undoubtedly the step forward shown by Lorenzo, today seventh at just over seven tenths. The Mallorcan once again worked on ergonomics, looking for the best driving position and in fact, tanks of different shapes appeared, as in the time of Ducati.

At Yamaha, where in these two days should be continued the comparative tests of the two engines brought to Valencia in the beginning, the results can be positive with regard to Maverick Vinales, fourth to four tenths, and Franco Morbidelli, more and more at the same time. Comfortable M1 and sixth. On the other hand, Valentino Rossi is in trouble: the "Doctor" also remained standing on the track because of a technical problem. At the end of the day, he is 17th at 1 "5, which makes him the worst among Iwata's drivers, also rookie Fabio Quartararo.

Continuing to pbad the rankings, in the eighth and ninth places are the Ducati of Jack Miller and Alvaro Bautista, mounted today on the GP Desmosedici of the tester Michele Pirro, absent because operated on the shoulder. The Spaniard introduced at the beginning another curious solution devised by Gigi Dall & Igna: in fact, on his Rossa, for the first time, two fins appeared on the sides of the codon.

Joan Mir, who is part of the first fall since his debut in MotoGP, completes the top 10. The Suzuki driver crashed at turn 7, fortunately inconsequential, but caused the damage of the red flag on a safety barrier . At the end of the day, however, he lost the satisfaction of placing himself in front of his most experienced teammate, Alex Rins, only 13th.

As for Valencia, Andrea Iannone seems to have taken a step forward. The newcomer to Aprilia made the 11th time a second off the summit, but also took advantage of Marquez's wake to do so. In the final, he then crashed on lap 5, then he happily lifted without consequences.

Then also the 12th time of Tito Rabat, still far from 100% of the form after the triple fracture of the right leg remedied in summer at Silverstone. A return pbadettino seems to have made him the Moto2 world champion Pecco Bagnaia, although it may be ungenerous to say so since the holder of the Ducati Pramac is 14th, but only pays 1 "1.

Instead, the KTM stayed: the best was Pol Espargaro, 16th to a second and a half. He continues to struggle a lot with adapting to RC16 in place of Johann Zarco, who did not go past the 19th minute, finishing at around seven tenths of the new teammate. Finally, we must remember the absence for Aprilia Aleix Espargaro, stopped by gastroenteritis two or three nights ago.