MotoGP Barcelona test: Acosta fastest as rain curtails running early

MotoGP riders completed half a day’s worth running as rain spoiled the show in Barcelona

Pedro Acosta led the way for KTM in a rain-shortened MotoGP test in Barcelona on Monday, while Jorge Martin suffered his sixth crash at the track in the space of four days.

Following Sunday’s chaotic Catalan Grand Prix, MotoGP riders returned to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the final in-season test of the year.

Only 18 race riders (plus Yamaha tester Augusto Fernandez) were in action, with Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco spending the morning in the hospital after suffering fractures in Sunday’s race. Catalan GP winner Fabio di Giannantonio also sat out the test to recover from an injury to his left hand, while reigning world champion Marc Marquez skipped the entire Barcelona weekend after undergoing surgery the week before.

After the track green at 10am local time, Fabio Quartararo set the early pace for Yamaha, testing a unique four-element front wing on his factory M1. 

The session was red-flagged in the second hour, when 2024 champion Martin suffered a hard fall at Turn 7. It compounded a miserable weekend for the factory Aprilia rider, but he was able to walk away from the incident without further implications after scans at the hospital revealed no fractures.

After the session resumed, the KTM riders began lighting up the timesheets, with Catalan GP polesitter Acosta rising to the top with a time of 1m38.767s. Tech3’s Enea Bastianini jumped to third place behind Quartararo, while his team-mate Maverick Vinales rose to fourth and gained valuable mileage after missing several races due to injury.

Just before the morning session concluded, rain hit the track, forcing all riders to return to the pits. The conditions failed to improve after the lunch break and, 90 minutes before the scheduled finish at 6pm local time, the test was officially cut short.

That meant Acosta ended the day on top by 0.064s from Quartararo, with Bastianini and Vinales finishing third and fourth as the only other riders to lap in the 1m38s bracket.

Trackhouse duo Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura finished fifth and sixth respectively, with Gresini rider Fermin Aldeguer leading Ducati’s charge in seventh ahead of VR46’s Franco Morbidelli. LCR Honda rookie Diogo Moreira was ninth, while Francesco Bagnaia rounded out the top 10 for factory Ducati.

Bagnaia continued to report pain in his neck following his crash with Zarco on Sunday, having already admitted that he had felt dizzy after the final race restart.

Martin, who did not return to the track, finished down in 17th, only ahead of Yamaha’s test rider Fernandez and Pramac rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu.

There was little new to see in the Barcelona test, with most manufacturers having already introduced major upgrades at Jerez last month.

The attention now turns towards the 2027 regulations, with race riders set to get their first opportunity to sample the 850cc bikes in a tyre test at Brno in June.

MotoGP Barcelona test - Full results:

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