Francesco Bagnaia reveals key areas that give him an advantage over Marc Marquez

There were four Ducati inside the all-important top ten during this afternoon’s Practice in Catalunya, however, none were the GP23 MotoGP bikes.

For the second weekend in a row Marc Marquez failed to secure a top ten, thus he will need to go through Q1 on Saturday.

Francesco Bagnaia had no such issues as he claimed fourth, which was good enough to end the day fastest of the eight Ducati bikes.

“Happy overall because we improved the feeling,” began Bagnaia. “This morning it wasn’t bad but this afternoon we improved it a bit and honestly, the medium tyre I was expecting more. 

“I was expecting more and last year it was the race tyre, but at the moment; also the 24 has a bit less grip and it is more complicated to be consistent and fast.

“Today I needed six laps to warm the rear because it wasn’t working. This is something we have to improve for tomorrow but we already know where to go with the set-up.

“The soft tyre is working really well but we don’t know if it is good for the long race.”

Discussing the differences between the GP24 and 23 machines, Bagnaia was clear about the strengths on this year’s bike.

Bagnaia added: “For me, braking and entry. The 24 is helping a lot in braking and entry and turns a bit better, but it has a little less grip.

“Last year’s bike was working really well here for the grip because here the level of grip is by far the worst.

“So it is difficult to put traction but it is turning less. The balance is quite similar for me, but just today Alex and Marc didn’t have the chance to do a good lap time.

“The pace of Marc is very good. Maybe he didn’t have the correct chance to be in the top ten.”

After suffering from chatter earlier this season, Catalunya was expected to give a clear answer as to whether Ducati had overcome the problem.

And despite its lower grip than Le Mans and Jerez, there were no signs of the issue for the third consecutive round during Friday’s practice.

“We went to Le Mans and Jerez and the level of grip is high, but here the level of grip here is quite low so maybe we could have some more, but at the moment we don’t,” commented Bagnaia.