The reigning MotoGP champion, who came into this👍 weekend fresh off signing a new two-year deal with Yamaha, could only manage eighth during Friday 👍practice at a circuit where he took the checkered flag inside the top three in each of the last three seasons (lost last year’s podium due to receiving a five second penalty for riding with his leathers open).

Quartararo was and remains one of the pre-race favourites, but if he’s to really challengeꦿ t༒he likes of both Aprilia’s, then finding better performance in low grip conditions could prove crucial. 

In what were conditions representative of those in Argentina earlier this season, a race Aleix Espargaro won,ꦛ Quartararo could also be in trouble relative to keeping hold of his championship lead - the Yamaha r⛄ider is only eight points clear of Espargaro. 

Whether it was race pace or one lap performance, Quartaﷺraro failed to find significant pace as he was also beaten by ꦏseveral Ducati’s. 

"Today was pretty bad," Quartararo said. "These track conditions were not w🌜orking well for me. When you put on a new tyre, you should be able to improve, but I couldn‘t, and the tyres dropped fast. 

"The feeling wasn‘t good. My riding was really good, but we were still slow. We struggle with lowౠ grip conditions, we know this. 

"But I think the track conditions will improve. Had the race ཧbeen today, we would only have been able to do damage limitation, but we know that the more rubber on the track the better the grip. 

"It‘s not going 🍒to rain, so I hope that by Sunday there‘s enough rubber to improve our pace. But I think everyone was struggling today."

Is Franco Morbidelli back?

Following ꦗa lacklustre first eight races, and that’s being kind, Franco Morbidelli looked close to his best on day-one of the Catalan MotoG🐎P. 

After leading most of FP1 until Alex Rins🐼 began a mini flurry of time attacks in which he and Maverick Vinales went quicker, Morbidelli continued to show strong pace during the afternoon session. 

💛In fact, it was the first time Morbidelli has consistently been able to challenge reigning world champion and team-mat𝓰e Quartararo this season.

Aside from a last-ditch effort to regain a top ten spot which he was successful in doing, Quarta꧋raro was slower than Morbidelli for 💖most of the day, something we have to go back to 2020 to say. 

Morbidelli added: "Today was a positive Friday for us. The feeling is much clo༒ser to what I want, an💦d the speed is also much closer to what I want. 

"This morning we were very fast. This afternಞoon we ꦕhad the chance to try a long run, and in the end we managed to get into the top 10. 

"This is positive. We‘ll keep working and improving, and let‘s ♔see wꩲhere we can arrive."

‘Nothing is different’ says Andrea Dovizioso as MotoGP struggles continue

While Morbidelli was able to re-find his form, the same couldn’t be said for three-time premier c🏅lass runner-up Dovizioso, as the Italian finished last of the Yamaha riders. 

Dovizioso has looked lost for pace and ideas on how to extract performance from his M1, which is why a ‘completely straಌnge setup for the Yamaha’ ♏was used on day-one in Catalunya, yet it still brought no breakthrough. 

The Italian said: "We tried a different setup, which is completely strange for the Yamaha. Y💙ou work a lot to create grip or you change the setup completely against the grip and nothing is different. 

▨"So, we just confirmed that this area on the bike is pretty tricky. With this big change, in any case, I didn’t feel well enough to be faster, which is pretty disappointing. 

"Let’s try again 🐓tomorrow mornඣing, as the grip will be completely different again, so we just hope for the best."