MotoGP Aragón FP1 LIVE: Marc Márquez takes a lead…

Article updated continuously until the end of the session.

With 65 points ahead of Joan mir, 69 on Johann zarco and 70 on Francis Bagnaia, fabio quartararo presents itself as the undisputed leader of the championship in Aragon.

Motorland Aragon is a circuit on which he finished 18th and 8th in the two rounds last year. However, he only won there in 2014 during his second CEV title and has just declared that it was the worst circuit for him... It will therefore be interesting to see how the “new Quartararo” will behave this year, who seems to have erased his few weak points this winter and has been delighting specialists and fans since the start of this season.

The 5077 meter route has long been considered unsuitable for Yamahas, due to its long main straight of 968 meters and its uphill secondary straight. And indeed, the V4s of Marc Marquez's Honda and the Ducati have often monopolized the forefront... at least until 2020, when the Suzukis have truly left their mark on Motorland, Hamamatsu placing its two GSX-RRs on the podium in both races!
It nevertheless remains that the latest winner is called Franco Morbidelli, also on an in-line 4-cylinder, but this time from Iwata: what turn will the fight for engine architectures take in 2021?

A particularity of this route lost in the middle of the Alcaniz desert, the absolute record still belongs to a certain Marc Márquez since 2015. This may explain this, we turn counterclockwise, like at the Sachsenring where the Spanish champion has so far won his only victory of the 2021 season... Blamed for his aggressive behavior against George Martin during the first round at Silverstone, and no doubt not happy with his teammate's pole position Espargaro Pol in Great Britain, there is no doubt that it will be necessary to count on a Marc Márquez revenge this weekend!

We will not forget either Johann zarco, currently 3rd in the championship, who went straight to Aragon riding a 900 Ducati 1981 SS Darmah ! Enough to appreciate the charms of nature and arrive calmly to defend your position in the ranking against Francis Bagnaia or try to improve it to the detriment of Joan mir...

https://twitter.com/CanalplusMotoGP/status/1436238684265779200

Another subject of interest, the return of Maverick Vinales, for the first time with Aprilia colors. The Noale firm is in full upward spiral and, after a first podium at Silverstone, the arrival in the race of the inconsistent but fast Catalan is awaited with great impatience, accompanied in the box by Giovanni Mattarollo who until now officiated in the test team after having climbed the ranks of the competition department of the Italian factory until 'at MotoGP in 2017….

Here are the main elements constituting the initial panorama of this Aragon Grand Prix, the competition of which will take place over 23 laps, apparently without the slightest drop of rain.

As the 22 drivers prepare for this first 45-minute free practice session, under a generally clear sky with temperatures of 22° in the air and 27° on the ground, let's take advantage of these few live moments thanks to the official site MotoGP.com :

Aragon MotoGP™	2020	2021
FP1	1'48.184 Alex Márquez (See here)	1'48.048 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP2	1'47.782 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)
FP3	1'47.333 Franco Morbidelli (See here)
FP4	1'47.931 Maverick Vinales (See here)
Q1	1'47.071 Pol Espargaró (See here)
Q2	1'46.882 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)
Warm up	1'48.565 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)
Course	Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins, Joan Mir (See here)
All time lap record	1'46.635 Marc Márquez (2015)

When the red lights go out... Alex Marquez rushes first in front of his brother Marc. Conversely, Valentino Rossi and Fabio Quartararo take the trail last.

Everyone rides on medium rear and soft at the front, except the four KTMs and Aleix Espargaro who opted for the medium at the front.

The first reference is entered by Iker Lecuona in 1'51.322 at the end of the first flying lap.

Johann zarco and Takaaki Nakagami improve this time on the next pass but it is ultimately fabio quartararo who scored 1'50.185 during the third round.

In the wake, Marc Márquez achieves 1'49.360 while Iker Lecuona makes a mistake at turn #16. The high-speed crash leaves the Tech3 rider a little bruised and the KTM damaged.

Marc Márquez, who still rides with his brother, advances the reference 1'49.171, four tenths ahead Jack Miller, Alex Marquez Johann Zarco, Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo.

Meanwhile, Maverick Vinales continues to acclimatize to the Aprilia, in 20th position, 2,6 seconds behind the leader.

After this first quarter of an hour, while most of the drivers return to their boxes, Cal Crutchlow et Maverick Vinales happen and replay on the track.

The hierarchy is then made up of Marc Márquez, Joan Mir, Takaaki Nakagami, Jack Miller, Alex Márquez, Johann Zarco, Francesco Bagnaia, Cal Crutchlow, Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaro, Jorge Martin, Alex Rins, Pol Espargaro, Enea Bastianini, Miguel Oliveira, Danilo Petrucci, Luca Marini , Valentino Rossi, Maverick Vinales, Brad Binder, Iker Lecuona and Jake Dixon.

Upon resumption, Espargaro Pol moved up to 6th then 4th position, already confirming the good performance of the Hondas on this track: the four RC213Vs are currently in the top 10, including three in the first four places...

13 minutes from the checkered flag, Valentino Rossi minor fall at turn #5. The Petronas driver admitted yesterday that he did not particularly like this route…

Meanwhile, fabio quartararo left with a medium tire at the front and progressed from sixth to third place. The French driver had lit the first three sectors in red but lost time on the straight.

Francis Bagnaia does not experience this type of problem and places his Ducati in second position with eight minutes remaining in the session. His teammate Jack Miller then steals this position from him but “Pecco” gets it back a few seconds later...

Alex Espargaro is positioned fifth then fourth, certainly giving a lot of hope to Maverick Vinales currently 17th, just one second behind the leader.

For the final rush, Marc Márquez et Joan mir are the only ones to use a soft rear tire. The Honda driver then clocked a 1'48.048 which, while not really being very significant, leaves the competition on medium tires more than a second behind. The multiple world champion is undoubtedly counting on a very/too hot session this afternoon and thus ensures a good time…

In extremis, Alex Marquez goes back to fourth position, Johann zarco in the seventh.

See you at 14:10 p.m. for FP2!

FP1 standings of the Aragón MotoGP Grand Prix:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com