LIVE MotoGP Jerez 1 FP1: Marc Marquez launches the 2020 season!

Article updated live until 10:40 a.m.!

After making our mouths water last Wednesday during two one and a half hour sessions, the 22 MotoGP riders will meet us this morning for the real start of the 2020 season.

With the Yamahas having dominated the five off-season tests, the Suzukis becoming more and more accomplished, but some riders having switched to a soft tire just to do one or two laps, it is difficult to get a real idea of ​​the forces involved. , apart from Marc Márquez, having regained both his full form and the confidence brought by his 2019 bike, will, once again, be the man to beat this year, unlike the Ducati riders who do not seem in an ideal situation, at except perhaps one Jack Miller further invigorated by its formalization in 2021.

Mystery question, that of the reliability of Aprilia seems to be on the agenda, unlike that concerning the future of Valentino Rossi, who will be among us next year.

But enough guesswork and let's enjoy the show because the facts are there: the Moto3 have just shown us that the track is faster than during Wednesday's test, the weather will be nice all weekend, the new asymmetrical Michelin tires are holding up well to the extreme temperatures of the Jerez circuit in summer, the drivers are over-motivated and will give everything for 45 minutes (except for fabio quartararo penalized by 20 minutes) to compete against each other in timed intervals on the Andalusian track.

So let's forget for a moment the constraints imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and open our eyes wide to, finally, enjoy the show!

Even if they were established in May 2019, with generally lower temperatures, here are the references to keep in mind, with the 1'37.793 achieved by Maverick Viñales last Wednesday :

MotoGP ™	2019	2020
FP1	1'37.921 Marc Márquez (See here)	1'37.350 Marc Márquez (see here)
FP2	1'37.909 Danilo Petrucci (See here)
FP3	1'36.957 Danilo Petrucci (See here)
FP4	1'37.651 Marc Márquez (See here)
Q1	1'37.164 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Q2	1'36.880 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
warm up	1'37.595 Marc Márquez (See here)
Course	Márquez, Rins, Vinales (See here)
All time lap record	1'36.880 Fabio Quartararo 2019

After 243 days since the last race, it is Aleix Espargaro et Bradley Smith which react the fastest to the opening of a 32° runway.

Jack Miller is the fastest at the end of the first flying lap, immediately under 1'40, in 1'39.426.

fabio quartararo left his box to go observe the other drivers at the side of the track…

On the next pass, the Australian driver was in 1'38.496 but had to concede the leadership to Maverick Vinales et Marc Márquez, with the same time to the nearest thousandth in 1'38.215!

However, the Yamaha rider continued his effort and recorded a 1'37.942 after an additional lap, which the Honda official did not match. But this year, we will apparently have to reckon with Jack Miller who immediately takes the best in 1'37.942.

After this first run, the hierarchy is made up of Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaró, Pecco Bagnaia, Joan Mir, Brad Binder, Andrea Dovizioso, Cal Crutchlow, Miguel Oliveira, all these drivers standing in half a second!

follow Alex Rins, Valentino Rossi, Franco Morbidelli, Bradley Smith, Takaaki Nakagami, Johann Zarco, all in the second, then Aleix Espargaró, Iker Lecuona, Danilo Petrucci, Álex Márquez and Tito Rabat.
fabio quartararo still hasn't hit the trail.

For the record, Pecco Bagnaia lost one of his front wheel deflectors on his Ducati GP 20 whileAleix I will espargaro does everything straight without consequence.

fabio quartararo hits the track at exactly 10:15 a.m., then sets a first flying lap in 1'39.730.

20 minutes from the checkered flag, Johann zarco enters the top 10, 0,478 seconds behind the leader.

From his second round launched, fabio quartararo is positioned 14th, faster thanAlex Rins and Valentino Rossi : his penalty does not seem to have handicapped him too much...

The Suzuki driver, however, seems to react and takes provisional fourth position, while the Frenchman enters the top 10 in his fourth flying lap.

A quarter of an hour before the end of the session, most of the drivers return to their box, which allows us to observe the provisional classification: Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Marc Marquez, Alex Rins, Andrea Dovizioso, Franco Morbidelli, all these drivers in 2 tenths, then Pol Espargaró, Pecco Bagnaia, Takaaki Nakagami, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Johann Zarco, Brad Binder, all these drivers in less than five tenths, then Cal Crutchlow, Miguel Oliveira, Tito Rabat, Valentino Rossi, Bradley Smith, Aleix Espargaró and Danilo Petrucci in the same second, only the times of Iker Lecuona et Alex Marquez exceeding unity: difficult to make tighter!

Ducati informs that the future ofAndrea Dovizioso will not be decided before August…

On resumption, Marc Márquez takes his brother behind him in a time lap, which allows álex to light the first two sectors in red and jump from the last to 7th place: long live the family!

The reigning world champion took command thanks to a very fast 1'37.350, but at that moment we noted a very good performance from Johann zarco which is positioned fourth!

Things are getting crazy and Cal Crutchlow is not to be outdone, springing into second place, ahead Andrea Dovizioso et Joan mir.

Iker Lecuona joins the top 10.

In extremis, Maverick Vinales takes second place, 24 thousandths behind the leader, thus saving the honor of the Yamaha.

This morning, the relatively cool conditions benefited the KTMs, even if we know that they suffer more on an overheated track.

Obviously, disappointment for Fabio QuartararoHowever, he did not use a soft rear tire to set his time, unlike the other drivers.

FP1 MotoGP ranking at Jerez 1:

Credit rankings: MotoGP.com