Alex Marquez fastest before falling in Teruel FP1 as Honda shows form

Alex Marquez picked up from where he left off at Motorland Aragon by topping the  timesheets in first free practice for the Teruel MotoGP, despite ending his morning on the deck after a fast crash in the final seconds.

Riding a wave of confidence after breakthrough podium finishes in Le Mans and Aragon, Marquez comes into the Teruel MotoGP round looking to go one better this weekend and emulate his brother Marc, who has won six of the seven races he has started at the Spanish venue.

However, it wasn’t a seamless session for the 2019 Moto2 World Champion, Marquez sliding off at the fast final corner left-hander in the dying moments of the session, albeit without consequence to man or machine.

Though he would have gone faster had he completed that lap, Marquez remained quickest with a 1m 48.184secs, half a second clear of Honda counterpart and future LCR team-mate Takaaki Nakagami, the Japanese rider toasting his contract renewal with the second best time. 

New MotoGP leader Joan Mir was third fastest, with Stefan Bradl cutting an unfamiliar figure at the sharp end of the timesheets, though his fourth best time is explained by him - and Marquez - being the only riders to attempt a soft tyre ‘time attack’ in those closing stages.

Franco Morbidelli headed up the Yamaha challenge in fifth, ahead of factory stablemate Maverick Vinales, while Jack Miller gave Ducati reason to be encouraged with a much better start to the weekend in seventh position.

Aleix Espargaro was eighth fastest for Aprilia, from his brother and top KTM man Pol Espargaro in ninth, while Cal Crutchlow made sure all four Hondas were inside the top ten despite slowing with technical issues.

With the FP1 session beginning later to avoid the cold temperature issues of last weekend, there were fewer dramas on track than seven days ago with Marquez suffering the only tumble, though Fabio Quartararo - down in 17th - one of a handful to run off track finding the limit.