Jerez test – Zarco in the lead, Nakagami hurts his knee

The day after the Spanish Grand Prix, the drivers were still on the Jerez circuit on Monday, for the first day of testing during the season. The representatives of the official Honda team, Fabio Quartararo and Brad Binder took the lead at the start of the day, before Johann Zarco took first place shortly before 1:00 p.m., never to let go. The day after the crash that caused his retirement, the Frenchman beat Brad Binder and Quartararo, who notably worked on the brakes, a new mudguard and a modified swingarm to improve rear grip.

Jack Miller took fourth place on a day without much new to test on the Ducati. Coming out of winter testing, Pecco Bagnaia complained of having too many parts to review, but this time the brand let the riders work on their settings. The winner of yesterday’s race settled for a modest 12th time and 24 laps on the track, the second lowest total of the day, far from the 78 of Quartararo or the 85 of Pol Espargaró, the fastest driver active on the track and author of the fifth time.

Joan Mir ranked sixth ahead of his compatriots Aleix Espargaró, Álex Rins and Jorge Martín, while Enea Bastianini completed the top 10. Leader at the start of the day, Marc Márquez no longer sought to make fast laps thereafter and settled for 14th place, ahead of Maverick Viñales, Franco Morbidelli and Andrea Dovizioso, three riders for whom this test was valuable as they struggle to get the best out of their machines.

A painful fall for Nakagami

The day was marked by a significant number of crashes, including one quite heavy for Takaaki Nakagami at the first corner, which ended his day. « The x-ray didn’t reveal a fracture but he has some pain in the ligaments of his left knee so we decided to transfer him to Barcelona for an MRI as soon as he lands. »explained Lucio Cecchinello, the boss of the LCR team for which the Japanese runs. « He left the paddock walking. »

Other drivers down include Maverick Viñales at turn 7, Brad Binder at 8 then his brother Darryn Binder at 13, Johann Zarco on first braking, Remy Gardner at turn 4 and finally Lorenzo Savadori, Aprilia’s test driver, in the sixth curve, which caused a red flag half an hour.

Stefan Bradl did not take to the track after his two crashes on Sunday but the Honda test driver has already been able to help the manufacturer by participating in the last two races as a wild card. Raúl Fernández also refrained from riding after withdrawing from the Spanish GP after his right hand remained sore due to a crash in qualifying at Portimão.

The incumbent drivers will no longer return to the track before the first tests of the Grand Prix de France, at the end of next week.

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