It was not the afternoon that was expected at Montmeló today, as the sixth event of the 2024 world championship season got underway. Both Alex and Marc Marquez, after being among the protagonists of today’s on-track action, could not capitalise when it mattered the most as they finished Practice in 11^th and 12^th place, respectively.
 
Nothing is irreversible, however, although there will be a little bit of extra pressure in tomorrow’s Q1 after nearly missing out of a direct seed in the final moments of the afternoon session. Alex crashed out (uninjured) at turn ten, with his tumble bringing out the yellow flags and, at the same time, taking Marc’s last opportunity away.

11^th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (1’39.113s)
“Obviously the crash didn’t help but it’s also true that feeling-wise it has been the best Friday of the season so far. We knew the Ducatis would suffer a bit more compared to other bikes, but it’s part of the game. We need to work ahead of tomorrow but the goal is to make it into Q2.”
 
12^th - MARC MARQUEZ #93 (1’39.153s)
“I must admit that I wasn’t feeling very comfortable already in the early stages of the afternoon session and then I couldn’t make the most of the soft tyre. It’ll be hard tomorrow as we know that Q1 is the worst session of the weekend, but we’ll give it all and see how it goes. This is not one of my favourite tracks and this Friday confirmed my worries. Let’s thing about having a great Q1 and we’ll see from there.”