Honda rider Marc Marquez beat his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to top the opening MotoGP practice session at Jerez, while Valentino Rossi was only 18th.
Marquez led nearly the entire 45-minute session after taking the session lead with his second flying lap, and stayed in front until just two minutes remained on the clock.
Lorenzo was then able to demote the sister works Honda by two tenths of a second with a 1m38.045s, but Marquez fought back just as the chequered flag fell.
Marquez first lowered the benchmark by a tenth and then slightly improved once again on his last lap to end the session with a 1m37.921s, the only rider below the 1m38s barrier.
Lorenzo completed a factory Honda one-two with Maverick Vinales, whose Yamaha team used a winglet by the rear tyre similar to the Ducati device that caused so much controversy earlier this year, taking third, 0.191s off the pace.
LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami – the pacesetter in post-season testing at Jerez last year – took an impressive fourth to bring a third Honda into the top four, narrowly beating lead Ducati man Andrea Dovizioso.
SRT Yamaha duo Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli were sixth and ninth, sandwiching the Ducati GP19s of Jack Miller, who seemingly had arm-pump issues during the session, and Danilo Petrucci. The top 10 was completed by Suzuki’s Alex Rins.
Johann Zarco was the top KTM in 12th but his session ended in the only crash of the morning.
Aleix Espargaro was the fastest Aprilia rider, as his team also tested a rear tyre winglet, in 14th.
Honda tester Stefan Bradl kicked off his first wildcard of the season in 15th while Bradley Smith made his second appearance for Aprilia in 19th – right behind Rossi, who was 1.459s off the pace in 18th.
Practice one times
Pos | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1m37.921s | – | 18 |
2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 1m38.045s | 0.124s | 19 |
3 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha | 1m38.112s | 0.191s | 17 |
4 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | 1m38.134s | 0.213s | 21 |
5 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1m38.150s | 0.229s | 19 |
6 | Fabio Quartararo | Petronas Yamaha | 1m38.209s | 0.288s | 21 |
7 | Jack Miller | Pramac Ducati | 1m38.464s | 0.543s | 15 |
8 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1m38.474s | 0.553s | 19 |
9 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha | 1m38.478s | 0.557s | 19 |
10 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1m38.534s | 0.613s | 20 |
11 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | 1m38.800s | 0.879s | 19 |
12 | Johann Zarco | KTM | 1m38.897s | 0.976s | 19 |
13 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1m38.905s | 0.984s | 21 |
14 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1m38.942s | 1.021s | 20 |
15 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 1m38.975s | 1.054s | 21 |
16 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 1m39.064s | 1.143s | 18 |
17 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 1m39.141s | 1.220s | 19 |
18 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1m39.380s | 1.459s | 20 |
19 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia | 1m39.410s | 1.489s | 18 |
20 | Tito Rabat | Avintia Ducati | 1m39.667s | 1.746s | 20 |
21 | Francesco Bagnaia | Pramac Ducati | 1m39.675s | 1.754s | 17 |
22 | Karel Abraham | Avintia Ducati | 1m39.949s | 2.028s | 17 |
23 | Miguel Oliveira | Tech3 KTM | 1m40.313s | 2.392s | 18 |
24 | Hafizh Syahrin | Tech3 KTM | 1m41.093s | 3.172s | 18 |