Espargaro tops in the opening practice of Aragon MotoGP

MotoGP title contender Aleix Espargaro took the top spot in the opening practice session of the weekend in Aragon, while Marc Marquez who made a return to MotoGP finished 11th.

In the first practice session for the Aragon Grand Prix at the Motorland Aragon, Aleix Espargaro started the session the fastest, beating fellow title challenger Francesco Bagnaia.

The top times of the session were unexpectedly centered in the first half of the morning session as the riders tried to spend the rest of the run fine-tuning their machines for the long runs, with Espargaro only edging out factory Ducati rider Bagnaia just a few seconds after the Italian had taken the top spot.

Aleix Espargaro, a MotoGP title contender, took the lead during the opening practice session of the Aragon weekend, with returning Marc Marquez finishing in eleventh.

The Aprilia rider’s time of 1:48.686s put him just 0.012s ahead of the defending Aragon GP champion, though his performance wasn’t without incident as he crashed at Turn 16 just after the session’s halfway point. Espargaro hastily rode his damaged RS-GP back to his pit box after shaking off what appeared to be some leg soreness after the crash.

Aleix Espargaro, a MotoGP title contender, took the lead during the opening practice session of the Aragon weekend, with returning Marc Marquez finishing in eleventh.

Brad Binder’s KTM finished fourth after being overtaken by Suzuki’s Alex Rins in the final minutes of the session with the latter ranking third fastest. Takaaki Nakagami took advantage of the new Kalex swing-arm that his Honda received this weekend, bringing the total number of top-five manufacturers to five.

Johann Zarco defied the trend by finishing sixth on his Pramac-run Ducati ahead of Enea Bastianini’s Gresini Desmosedici, and Miguel Oliveira, driving the sister factory KTM, came in eighth.

Aleix Espargaro, who is vying for the MotoGP championship, took the top spot in the opening practice of the Aragon weekend, with Marc Marquez, who is back, finishing 11th.

Fabio Quartararo, who is now leading the championship, experienced numerous run-offs during the session as he attempted to keep up with the leaders. The Frenchman eventually finished ninth, just ahead of teammate Franco Morbidelli, who rounded out the top 10.

In his first race weekend practice since the Italian GP in May, Marc Marquez chose to begin the weekend without the new Kalex swing-arm on his RC213-V and finished a solid 12th overall. Joan Mir, who was also making his comeback from a fractured ankle injury, finished 18th for Suzuki.

In the opening practice session of the weekend in Aragon, MotoGP title contender Aleix Espargaro took the top spot while Marc Marquez, who is back, finished 11th.

As a substitute for the retired Andrea Dovizioso at the RNF Yamaha team, Cal Crutchlow finished 17th in his first MotoGP race appearance in almost a year. The Brit was barely seven tenths of a second off of Espargaro’s record.

ARAGON MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS