The Albany Gazette - Bagnaia hits back with record Jerez practice lap

The factory Ducati rider, champion in 2022 and 2023, won the opener in Qatar yet has subsequently fallen to fifth in the championship standings coming into this fourth round of the season.

But the Italian sent out a warning to the pretenders to his crown by dominating Friday practice with a sizzling late lap of 1min 36.025 to better his own previous best time at the circuit in Andalusia of 1min 36.170 set in 2022.

He topped second practice ahead of Maverick Vinales, the Aprilia rider on a cloud after his heroics at the Grand Prix of the Americas, where he won both the sprint and the race itself off a record pole.

In third came Marc Marquez, who briefly led the United States race before abruptly parting company with his Ducati satellite Gresini bike.

Jorge Martin, who leads this season's championship by 21 points (30 clear of Bagnaia), posted the fifth fastest time, four tenths of a second quicker than teenaged rookie sensation Pedro Acosta.

The top 10 automatically go through to the second qualifying session shaping the first four rows of the grid on Saturday, this group joined by the two fastest riders from the first session.

Saturday qualifying is followed by the 12 lap sprint race, with the 25-lap main event on Sunday where Bagnaia is seeking a third consecutive win.

In the championship Martin leads on 80 points, from Enea Bastianini (59 pts), Vinales (56), Costa (54) and Bagnaia (50).

(K.Lee--TAG)