Vinales leads Rossi in first MotoGP practice at Jerez

Maverick Vinales topped the opening practice session for MotoGP’s Andalucian Grand Prix at Jerez, leading team-mate Valentino Rossi in a factory Yamaha 1-2.

As the 45-minute first practice kicked off MotoGP’s first repeat race weekend following last Sunday’s Jerez opener, reigning champion Marc Marquez duly sat out the session.

Marquez, who fractured his right humerus in the opener and underwent surgery on Tuesday, is a surprise addition to this weekend’s proceedings but has agreed with Honda to skip Friday track action in order to not put further stress on the injury.

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His future Honda team-mate, current KTM rider Pol Espargaro, set the early pace in the opening rounds of FP1, logging a 1m37.497s that took him within a couple of tenths from Marquez’s benchmark from the corresponding session last weekend.

It meant that Espargaro held a handy lead of three-to-four tenths at the top of the timesheets for most of the session, and was only usurped with five minutes to go – by Petronas Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli, equipped with a fresh soft rear tyre.

Rossi went to the top a couple of minutes later, and only a last-gasp lap from Vinales denied him the FP1 honours as the Spaniard took the chequered flag with a 1m37.063s.

Brad Binder led KTM’s efforts with a superb third place, three tenths off the pace, ahead of Morbidelli and Espargaro – who was on course to challenge for the top spot with a late lap but came up on Francesco Bagnaia’s Pramac Ducati in the final sector.

Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira made it three KTMs in the top six, ahead of Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller, the leading Honda of Takaaki Nakagami, the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro and the works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso.

Jerez winner Fabio Quartararo was only 13th but appeared to forego a late-session time attack.

Unlike Marquez, two other riders who had got injured last weekend – Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins – both took to the track in FP1, but wound up at the foot of the timing screens.

Crutchlow, who is nursing a fractured scaphoid, was two seconds off the pace in 20th, while Rins – who had sustained a fracture-dislocation of his shoulder – was a further second down and limited himself to only eight laps.

Practice 1 Results