Zarco fastest from Marquez in P1 as Quartararo and Morbidelli crash late on

Quickest after two flying laps, Marc Marquez then rapidly dropped down the leaderboard as he nearly suffered a big crash at turn seven.

Marquez lost control of his RC213V momentarily at turn seven which led to the rear attempting to come around on the eight-time world champion. In typical Marquez style, the Honda rider managed to save it.

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Marquez then returned to the front of the field, however, Takaaki Nakagami was the man leading the way as he made it a Honda 1-2. 

Jorge Martin then went quickest for Pramac Ducati, before fellow Spaniard Aleix Espargaro became the first faller of the weekend after going down at turn one. 

What was a dry start to Practice 1 came under threat as spots of rain began to fall after just 15 minutes. 

There was a close call between Enea Bastianini and Jack Miller at turn six as the latter carried more corner speed before nearly running into the rear of the Italian rider’s machine.

Miller had to slow mid-corner which led to the Australian waving his arm in frustration at the man who replaced him at Ducati. 

Attempting to get a feel for the conditions, factory Aprilia riders Espargaro and Maverick Vinales headed out of pit lane together, but they were the only two riders to do so. 

Espargaro pitted after just one lap, while Vinales, who was touring the circuit very slowly, received a message on his dash to do the same. 

But Vinales, who was on slick tyres, decided to stay out as Miller also joined the Spaniard in choosing dry tyres despite the track being damp.

As conditions improved heading into the final 15 minutes, Bagnaia, who was outside the top ten, managed to improve although it wasn’t enough to crack the top ten. 

Bagnaia’s next lap around was a very good one as he went second behind Martin, however, that soon became third as Espargaro went quickest aboard his RS-GP23 machine. 

Bagnaia responded two laps later to go quickest from the Aprilia rider, before a sub 1m 21s lap was set by Espargaro in order to quickest yet again. 

Quartararo was next to challenge Espargaro as he slotted into P2, before Marquez set two stunning sectors at the beginning of his latest lap in order to go top.  

Trying to push on, Franco Morbidelli suffered a fast crash before teammate Quartararo did the same at turn one. 

Quartararo’s fall came after Zarco went quickest, and with yellow flags impacting lap times, the Pramac rider remained fastest.