Spanish MotoGP: First session sees Alex Marquez ahead of the pack in Jerez

Alex Marquez was the first rider to grace the top of the timesheets and from there he continued to chip away at his time as he worked on his set up for the Spanish MotoGP race weekend in Jerez.

The Gresini Racing MotoGP rider managed to cut a decent gap over the rest of the field by the end of the session, with over a half a second advantage ahead of his brother Marc, also on a Gresini, completing a strong opener for the team.

Maverick Vinales set COTA alight in Texas with a historic performance, his pole/Sprint/Sunday treble also saw him become the first rider to win with three different manufacturers.

Though the Aprilia rider didn’t enjoy quite that level of spectacle straight off the bat, he was close to time time of Marc Marquez and immediately competitive in third at the close of the first session.

FP1 was strong for home riders in general, with many laps at Jerez under their belts to help. That lead Aleix Espargaro, who saw his one lap pace take him to pole in 2023, to fourth on the second of the Aprilia machines.

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Franco Morbidelli was a pleasant surprise in fifth, looking back to his best he was able to be in the mix straight away and was in the top three for much of the session for Prima Pramac Ducati.

Danny Pedrosa was once again making the most of his wildcard ride. In 2023 he topped the opening session. Although the Spaniard couldn’t quite match that, the Red Bull KTM rider was ahead of both rookie Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder in eighth, having lost none of his pace as a test rider.

Binder was next on the timesheets, ahead of championship leader Jorge Martin, whose late run of personal best laps saw him climb to ninth.

Acosta completed the top ten.

A look further down the timesheets was needed to find defending champion Francesco Bagnaia. Once again not off to a headline start for Ducati, the Italian sits twelfth after FP1.

Fabio Quartararo was the best of the factory Yamaha riders, sitting 14th after the first session.

There are two further wildcard entries - Lorenzo Savadori (23rd)  for Aprilia and Stefan Bradl (24th)who is testing seat units for Honda.

Augusto Fernandez is due to have a conformation medical on his fitness after session one, which he completed in 20th.