Maverick Vinales led a factory Yamaha 1-2 in first practice for the inaugural Andalucia grand prix at Jerez, the Spaniard heading Valentino Rossi by 0.142.
Vinales was a permanent fixture within the top ten across the full 45 minute session, but saved his best until the very last-posting his session leading 1:37.063 on his final flyer as the clock ticked down to zero.
Prior to Vinales’ final benchmark the fastest time looked to go going either the way of Rossi or VR46 protege Franco Morbidelli, the Petronas SRT man first heading to the top spot with a 1:37.416 as the session reached its climax before Rossi shaved over two-tenths from Morbidelli’s time to snatch the best time.
Rossi ultimately ended up 0.142 down on his team-mate in second, while third went the way of Brad Binder-the impressive rookie once again showing strong pace on the KTM RC16.
Morbidelli eventually wound up fourth quickest, while long-time session leader Pol Espargaro completed the top five on the second factory KTM.
Miguel Oliveira was sixth fastest on the Tech 3-run RC16-the Austrian machine continuing to look brilliant on the tight and twisty Jerez circuit-while Jack Miller took the accolade of fastest Ducati in seventh.
Takaaki Nakagami was eighth on his ’19 spec LCR Honda, with the top ten being rounded out by Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia in ninth and Andrea Dovizioso’s factory Ducati in tenth.
Spanish GP race winner Fabio Quartararo had a rather muted FP1, ending the session 13th overall and over eight-tenths down on Vinales’ effort-just behind Joan Mir on the the quickest of the Suzuki’s in 11th.
Alex Marquez looked happier in FP1 relative to his performances in his debut GP weekend last week, the factory Honda racer managing 15th ahead of Danilo Petrucci-the second of the official Ducati’s the last man within a second of the session leading time.
Marc Marquez was absent from any track running, the world champion deciding attempt to ride on Saturday instead after being declared fit to race yesterday afternoon following surgery on his broken arm on Tuesday.
Both Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins did take to the track however after also being passed fit yesterday following their own injuries that caused them to miss the Spanish GP last weekend, the pair ending up 20th and 21st respectively.
Jerez de la Frontera, Friday, July 24, 2020
| # | Rider | Team | Lap | Gap / Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’37.063 | |
| 2 | Valentino ROSSI | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’37.205 | 0.142 / 0.142 |
| 3 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’37.370 | 0.307 / 0.165 |
| 4 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’37.416 | 0.353 / 0.046 |
| 5 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’37.442 | 0.379 / 0.026 |
| 6 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’37.492 | 0.429 / 0.050 |
| 7 | Jack MILLER | Pramac Racing | 1’37.566 | 0.503 / 0.074 |
| 8 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’37.592 | 0.529 / 0.026 |
| 9 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’37.735 | 0.672 / 0.143 |
| 10 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’37.739 | 0.676 / 0.004 |
| 11 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’37.749 | 0.686 / 0.010 |
| 12 | Iker LECUONA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’37.832 | 0.769 / 0.083 |
| 13 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’37.892 | 0.829 / 0.060 |
| 14 | Johann ZARCO | Hublot Reale Avintia | 1’37.955 | 0.892 / 0.063 |
| 15 | Alex MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’37.957 | 0.894 / 0.002 |
| 16 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati Team | 1’37.997 | 0.934 / 0.040 |
| 17 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Pramac Racing | 1’38.309 | 1.246 / 0.312 |
| 18 | Tito RABAT | Hublot Reale Avintia | 1’38.393 | 1.330 / 0.084 |
| 19 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’38.692 | 1.629 / 0.299 |
| 20 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’39.050 | 1.987 / 0.358 |
| 21 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’40.222 | 3.159 / 1.172 |
| Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team |
