Marquez leads Lorenzo in Honda fightback

Full FP1 results from the Spanish MotoGP

Following its nightmare Americas MotoGP, the Repsol Honda duo have produced a 1-2 in the opening practice session ahead of the Spanish round with Marc Marquez edging team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Both riders retired from the last race in Austin with separate bike issues, as Honda remained tight-lipped on the exact cause of each retirement, but having been confident of fixes ahead of the Spanish round at Jerez both Marquez and Lorenzo put it into practice with a dominant showing in FP1.

Marquez has ends the opening session on top with a 1m 37.921s using a medium-hard tyre combination on the recently-resurfaced Jerez circuit, while Lorenzo was just 0.124s off his team-mate using the medium-medium tyre selection.

Maverick Vinales was able to bolt into third place late on for Monster Yamaha, also inside two-tenths of pace-setter Marquez, while his team-mate Valentino Rossi caught attention debuting a new swingarm attachment and with his focus appearing to be on the new device as the Italian rider ended the session down in 18^th and 1.4s off the pace.

At the front Takaaki Nakgami picked up from where he left off at Jerez, having gone quickest in the post-season test last November, to move into fourth place for LCR Honda ahead of championship leader Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Ducati.

Fabio Quartararo has continued to impress with the MotoGP rookie taking sixth place for Petronas Yamaha ahead of Jack Miller who suffered with arm pump towards the end of the session for Pramac Ducati.

Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci has ended FP1 in eighth place ahead of Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli with debut MotoGP race-winner from Circuit of the Americas Alex Rins rounding out the top 10 on the Suzuki.

It meant Cal Crutchlow just missed out on seeing all four Hondas in the early Q2 slots, while Johann Zarco led the Red Bull KTM charge in 12^th place.

With Suzuki’s Joan Mir in 13^th, Aleix Espargaro placed his Aprilia 14^th at the end of the session ahead of Honda wildcard and test rider Stefan Bradl and team-mate Andrea Iannone.

Pol Espargaro claimed 17^th, just ahead of Rossi, with Aprilia wildcard rider Bradley Smith and Avintia Ducati’s Tito Rabat rounding out the top 20.