Aragón Grand Prix MotoGP FP1: Marc Márquez desperately seeks opponents…

For French enthusiasts, this 14th round of the MotoGP world championship already presents a bittersweet flavor with the absence of Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo in the firmament, all in a pronounced “pre-transfer window” atmosphere.

But let's put all that aside momentarily to try to concentrate on the match to come which, while not presenting the slightest suspense for the awarding of the world title, could nevertheless prove interesting.

Last year in Aragón, Jorge Lorenzo began its descent into hell, the Yamahas were transparent and alone Andrea Dovizioso managed to respond to Marc Márquez under the eyes of the two SuzukisAndrea Iannone et Alex Rins.

With Lorenzo and Iannone now in the throes of the second half of the field, the main lesson will a priori be the confirmation, or not, of the Yamaha's progress after their very good performance at Misano.

As for the favorite of the race, there would be little doubt on paper, if the expected rain on Saturday and Sunday did not add an element of uncertainty...

In the meantime, the sun is shining in Aragon, with ideal temperatures of 22° in the air and 24° on the ground.

Here are the references available, at the time when the 23 pilots (Bradley Smith is wildcard for Aprilia) of the premier category are preparing for this first 45-minute free practice session:

Aragon MotoGP™	2018	2019
FP1	1'48.020 Andrea Dovizioso (See here)	1'46.869 Marc Márquez
FP2	1'47.382 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP3	1'47.393 Cal Crutchlow (See here)
FP4	1'48.129 Jorge Lorenzo (See here)
Q1	1'47.823 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Q2	1'46.881 Jorge Lorenzo (See here)
warm up	1'47.888 Andrea Iannone (See here)
Course	Marquez, Dovizioso, Iannone (See here)
All time lap record	1'46.635 Marc Márquez 2015

When the red lights go out, Marc Márquez rushes first in front Franco Morbidelli, while conversely, fabio quartararo let everyone go.

In terms of tires, the majority of drivers opted for a soft at the front and a medium at the rear, even if Marc Marquez, as is often the case, adopts a different tactic by using a hard tire.

At the end of the first round, Alex Rins registered the first reference in 1'51.430 before Marc Marquez ne achieves 1'49.410 then 1'48.771 and 1'48.487 in the following passages, leaving everyone more than a second behind!

After 10 minutes, Alex Rins returns to his box via the security lane, which seems to indicate a technical problem on his GSX-RR.

At the end of the first run, Marc Márquez still leads Pol Espargaró, Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Viñales, Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo, Danilo Petrucci, Joan Mir, Franco Morbidelli and Miguel Oliveira by more than a second. follow Mika Kallio, Álex Rins, Bradley Smith, Cal Crutchlow, Francesco Bagnaia, Tito Rabat, Takaaki Nakagami, Andrea Iannone, Hafizh Syahrin, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Aleix Espargaró and Karel Abraham.

On resumption, Valentino Rossi, then 21st, uses a hard rear tire. The Italian driver immediately regained 12th position on the first flying lap of his second run, before reaching provisional 6th place.

Cal Crutchlow then rises to 4th position but it is Alex Rins, undoubtedly riding his motorcycle #2, who leads the opposition to Marc Márquez, however, 1,1 seconds behind the Honda driver.

15 minutes from the checkered flag, Maverick Vinales places his Yamaha in second position but remains one second behind number 93, before Fabio Quartararo takes provisional 6th place.

The end of the session seems a little strange, as if everyone had resigned themselves to giving one second to Marc Marquez and the soft tires couldn't do anything about it...
Moreover, Jack Miller et Joan Mir, both equipped with medium front and hard rear, placed themselves second and third respectively five minutes from the end of the session, still more than a second behind Marc Marquez.

Franco Morbidelli is the first to break this symbolic bar (for 4 thousandths) but, during this time, Marc Márquez put a soft tire on the rear of his RC213V and lights the first three sectors in red before losing time in the fourth.

Jack Miller et Joan mir continue their effort and get closer to 6/10 of the more than probable future world champion, even, although hampered by Tito Rabat, slams an incredible 1'47.030, then 1'46.869, relegating everyone to more than two seconds and coming within 2 tenths of the absolute track record!

Maverick Vinales, Fabio Quartararo and Andrea Dovizioso react in the last minute, but remain more than 1,6 seconds away... The tone is set and the reactions speak!

FP1 classification of the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com