The Ducati Lenovo Team through to Q2 after the opening day at Jerez: Marc Márquez fourth, Francesco Bagnaia sixth

• Alex Márquez tops the timesheets with the Ducati of the Gresini Racing Team, followed by Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Racing Team)

The Ducati Lenovo Team took part in the opening day of action at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto, host of the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Grand Prix of Spain. Marc Márquez finished Practice in fourth position, while Francesco Bagnaia was sixth at the flag.

Márquez, fifth-fastest in FP1, remained consistently inside the top ten also in the afternoon session, before moving back towards the top in his final time attack. Bagnaia, after crashing at turn one on his first Practice lap, made the difference in a hard-fought final part of the session — eventually finishing only 0.038s behind his teammate.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will resume proceedings tomorrow morning at 10:10 local time (GMT +2) for Free Practice 2, which will be followed by Q2 at 11:15. The fourth Sprint of the season will be contested over a 12-lap distance from 15:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 4th
“I'm happy with how this Friday went. We completed the work programme and managed to secure direct access to Q2, which was not a given considering how tight the session was at the end. We still need to keep working and make a step forward ahead of qualifying and the race. My physical condition is OK, but I need to focus on my riding style to keep improving. The reference at the moment is Alex (Márquez), both in terms of single-lap performance and race pace, but in any case we'll keep following our direction with the goal of doing well.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 6th
“It was a bit of an unusual day, but the potential isn't too bad. The feeling this morning was quite good, even though we had a bit of extra rear tyre wear. We had an adjustment to try in the afternoon — the same one Alex (Márquez) used — but the lap-one crash didn't allow me to evaluate it properly. We'll do it tomorrow morning. In any case, it's important that we made it into Q2. We'll try to spend more time on track tomorrow and make a step forward; the feeling at the moment is better compared to Austin.”