Jorge Martin got his MotoGP weekend off to the best possible start at the British Grand Prix by dominating proceedings in the opening practice session at Silverstone
The Pramac Ducati rider bettered his provisionally fastest effort in the closing seconds of the session to set the fastest time of 1.59.383, establishing a 0.090s margin over Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, whose team-mate Aleix Espargaro finished in third and 0.336s adrift.
Jack Miller put in a strong showing following a difficult first half of the season to set a consistent early pace with the fourth spot aboard his KTM, ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli and factory Ducati rider Enea Bastiaini.
Fabio Di Giannantonio continued his strong pace aboard the GP23 VR46 Ducti machine to sandwich himself between the two factory riders in seventh, with Francesco Bagnaia a further 0.018s behind in eighth,
Fabio Quartararo positioned his struggling Yamaha in ninth, ahead of Marc Marquez who finished off in 10th spot on the Gresini Ducati, but the Spaniard suffered a late crash at the fast Turn 15, which undoubtedly prevented him from climbing higher up the timesheet.
Tech3’s Pedro Acosta ran wide at the fast Turn 6 with seven minutes left on the clock, which meant he couldn’t improve upon 11th, with Alex, the younger of the Gresini Marquez duo, finishing in 12th.
KTM’s Brad Binder was next in the classification, followed by VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi and Yamaha’s Alex Rins.
Unsurprisingly, the Honda quarter finished towards the bottom of the standings in FP1, led by LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami in 16th place.
It was a tricky session for the Trackhouse Racing Aprilia duo of Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez, finishing in 17th and 21st respectively.
Augusto Fernandez’s struggles for form look to have carried on post-summer-break, with the Tec3 rider in 18th ahead of LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco and Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini.
Joan Mir finished as the last full-time classified rider with Yamaha wildcard rider Remy Gardner propping up the table.
