Jerez MotoGP FP1: The Top 10 in 3 tenths!

Of the 25 MotoGP riders present this morning, only 9 will discover the new surface of the Jerez-Angel Nieto circuit during this FP1: the 4 Yamaha riders, Aleix Espargaro, Karel Abraham, Alvaro Bautista, Tom Lüthi and Mika Kallio.

A surface that is said to be more adherent but which will have to be tamed even more quickly than a risk of rain is announced at the beginning of the afternoon, the only small shadow on the weather picture for this Andalusian weekend.

The official Ducati and Honda teams have already ridden on this new asphalt in private tests, the former in November 2017, the latter just over a month ago. And like last season, Dani Pedrosa had completely dominated the Grand Prix sessions before winning the race, there is no reason why the RC213Vs should not prove very strong, even if Marc Márquez has won only once so far and number 26 is still not fully recovered from his injured hand.

Last year, the Jerez stage marked the first disillusionment of the Movistar Yamaha team and the men in blue are crossing their fingers to pass this milestone in much better conditions, in particular Maverick Vinales who has repeatedly declared that he has found the same sensations on his bike as at the start of 2017. Valentino Rossi would, however, have preferred to test his Yamaha M1 here rather than at Sepang last November.

On the side of Ducati, we want to wait and see while at Suzuki, we can't wait to continue the series of podiums initiated in Argentina. At the house of KTM, we count on the presence of Mika Kallio to have a solid weekend after a somewhat disappointing start to the season.

The sky is mostly blue at the moment and temperatures are 18° in the air and 17° on the track, while a strong wind sweeps across the Andalusian circuit.

Here are the references available before the 45 minutes of this first MotoGP session of the weekend:

Jerez MotoGP™	2017	2018
FP1	1'51.648 Dani Pedrosa (See here)	1'39.268 Andrea Dovizioso
FP2	1'39.420 Dani Pedrosa (See here)
FP3	1'38.580 Dani Pedrosa (See here)
FP4	1'39.467 Marc Marquez (See here)
Qualification 1	1'38.919 Andrea Iannone (See here)
Qualification 2	1'38.249 Dani Pedrosa (See here)
Warm Up	1'39.433 Maverick Vinales (See here)
Course	Pedrosa, Marquez, Lorenzo (See here)
All time lap record	1'37.910 Jorge Lorenzo 2015

 

When the red lights go out, it's always the duo Esteve Rabat-Jorge Lorenzo who rushes first when we discover that Johann zarco has a new decoration on his Shark helmet and his motorcycle also features more red.

In terms of tires, the majority of drivers chose a soft front tire to cope with the low temperatures while at the rear, alex rins stands out with a hard while the majority choice is on the medium, while Cal Crutchlow, Marc Márquez, Álvaro Bautista, Dani Pedrosa and Tom Luthi use a tender.

From his 2nd round launched, Jorge Lorenzo leads the provisional hierarchy in 1'40.727, a time improved by more than a second by Marc Márquez 2 laps later: 1'39.548!

At the end of the first run, the top 10 consists of Marc Marquez, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, Johann Zarco, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Iannone, Jorge Lorenzo, Danilo Petrucci, Mika Kallio and Pol Espargaro, a ranking that will not change until mid-session.

Curiously, Dani Pedrosa currently only appears in 18th position, on a circuit where he was as comfortable as a fish in water last season. Also surprised, Maverick Vinales is in 18th position.

Midway through the session, we witness an offensive of John Zarco who took 2nd position ahead of Danilo Petrucci, 4/10 behind Marc Márquez.

The latter, as usual, will test the limit of the grip of the front axle of his RC213V by catching a front slip.

17 minutes from the checkered flag, Cal Crutchlow equalizes the chrono of Marc Marquez.

Espargaro Pol continues to do well since he temporarily climbs into 7th position, but it's his brother Aleix who created a surprise by positioning his Aprilia in provisional 3rd place before the final rush.

The hierarchy is then composed of Marc Marquez, Cal Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaro, Johann Zarco, Andrea Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci, Pol Espargaro, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

In the last 10 minutes, Takaaki Nakagami confirms the excellent level of Honda by positioning itself 5th while, conversely, Hafiz Syahrin marks time at the end of the ranking.

Andrea Iannone positions himself behind the 2 leading Hondas 7 minutes from the checkered flag, just before Valentino Rossi took provisional pole position in 1'39.488.

The Yamaha rider drives behind him Pol Espargaro who, as a result, achieves the best time!

Jack Miller positions itself second while Marc Márquez produced his effort and recorded a 1'39.275.

Maverick Vinales, then 13th, took 6th position, taking behind him Scott Redding.

Andrea Dovizioso was about to do the same but found himself hampered by Alvaro Bautista.

Despite this, he took the best time in 1'39.268 while Johann zarco managed his integration into the top 10 at the last minute, the only driver to be included with a medium rear tire.

FP1 MotoGP ranking:

Photo credit: MotoGP.com