Joan Mir led the way in the first practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez ahead of Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins, while Fabio Quartararo crashed early on.
The Jerez venue started out mostly dry but with several damp patches scattered throughout the lap after heavy rain in the region on Thursday, meaning the 25 riders taking part this weekend needed to stay on the dry racing line to avoid any potential problems.
Series leader Quartararo was quickest out the gates on what is one of his favourite tracks, the Yamaha ace firing in a 1:38.780s to lead Honda’s Marc Marquez, though he would soon run into difficulty after crashing out on his very next attempt at the final bend.
The Frenchman hit one of the few remaining damp patches while trying to pass Gresini’s Fabio Di Gianantonio, his M1 sliding out from under him and throwing him onto the floor, though luckily he only suffered a hit to his groin and after a short time-out was back in action in the closing minutes – though he failed to improve his time after suffering several more off-track excursions.
Pol Espargaro meanwhile took control at the head of the times, though this was short-lived as Mir moved his GSX-RR to the top of the tree with a 1:38.422s, a time that looked good to remain fastest until LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez pipped him with just a couple minutes left on the clock.
Mir swiftly redressed the balance though with a 1:38.194s to end the opening test of the weekend fastest ahead of team-mate Rins, who managed to slide ahead of Marquez on his final effort.
Aleix Espargaro was fourth quickest for Aprilia ahead of Quartararo, while the second LCR machine of Takaaki Nakagami ended up sixth overall, the Japanese pilot having looked good to move to the top of the classification before making a mistake at the final corner.
Brad Binder was KTM’s highest representative in seventh ahead of Pol, while the other Aprilia of Maverick Vinales and Ducati’s Jack Miller completed the top ten.
Marc ended up slipping out of the top ten to 11th after failing to improve his time as the conditions improved later on, while Enea Bastianini – who lost the points lead as a result of crashing out last weekend in Portugal – was 12th just ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.
Pramac pairing Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco were 14th and 17th respectively, while Marco Bezzecchi ended FP1 as the highest-placed rookie in 18th.
Raul Fernandez was ruled out of the Spanish GP weekend prior to FP1 as a result of the right-hand injury he picked up in Portimao, the Tech 3 KTM man now looking to try and get fit for the French contest at Le Mans in two weeks time.
