MotoGP LIVE Aragón-1 FP1: The Yamahas get the chestnuts from… the cold!

The situation in the championship having barely changed after the French round at Le Mans, the two weekends in Aragón could well be a turning point, on a track turning counter-clockwise for the first time this season.

But more than this simple particularity, the weather conditions risk constantly reshuffling the cards throughout the weekend.

Despite beautiful sunshine which should last until Sunday, a freezing wind to dehorn the oxen was present in recent days. There official weather forecast tells us that it is supposed to diminish from Saturday.

Even more important, the range of temperatures will make the development of MotoGP very difficult, because between 2° in the morning and 21° in the afternoon, adjusting the machines risks proving to be a headache for the technicians, even if to cope with this drivers now have an additional soft front tire at each Grand Prix (6 instead of 5 for the weekend) until the end of the season, in return for one less hard front tire.

Two drivers will be absent from the starting grid, Sunday at 14 p.m. Marc Marquez obviously, who has already won six races there (five in MotoGP and one in Moto2) since 2010, the year Motorland Aragón entered the world championship, and Valentino Rossi due to Covid-19.

While the latter has never won there, the latest winner is precisely Marc Márquez, what's more from pole position. Honda's true preserve, the track located 230 kilometers southwest of Barcelona has only granted three victories to the Tokyo firm's opponents, in 2010 with Casey Stoner and Ducati, as well as in 2014 and 2015 with Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha.

Suffice it to say thattoday everything is open, even if this first free practice session will perhaps not be significant, for the reasons mentioned above, of the hierarchy on the starting grid on Sunday at 14 p.m.

Last unfortunate anecdote, the latest winner, Danilo Petrucci, was stung by a hornet…

The sun completely pierces a light veil as the 21 pilots prepare, with temperatures of 10° in the air and 9° on the ground, all bathed in a sustained wind of 16 km/h.

However, the session is delayed by 30 minutes, because the MotoGP riders hardly like this temperature of the asphalt, especially with a track that has been made dusty by the wind...
The pit lane will be open at 10:25 a.m.

Aragon-1 MotoGP™	2019	2020
FP1	1'46.869 Marc Márquez (See here)	1'49.866 Maverick Viñales (See here)
FP2	1'48.014 Maverick Viñales (See here)
FP3	1'55.934 Alex Rins (See here)
FP4	1'48.246 Marc Márquez (See here)
Q1	1'48.292 Franco Morbidelli (See here)
Q2	1'47.009 Marc Márquez (See here)
Warm up	1'59.111 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Course	Marquez, Dovizioso, Miller (See here)
All time lap record	1'46.635 Marc Márquez (2015)

When the red lights go out... Johann zarco takes the lead.

The track hardly warmed up more than one or two degrees.

The drivers mainly opted for a soft front/medium rear tire configuration, with the exception of Stefan bradl which uses a soft rear.

While Maverick Vinales prefers for the moment to stay in his box, Takaaki Nakagami recorded the first reference in 1'54.484 ahead of the two KTMs of Iker Lecuona and Pol I will espargaro.

On the next pass, the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider recorded 1'52.821 ahead Cal Crutchlow, before leaving the command of operations to Pol I will espargaro in 1'51.032 in his third flying lap.

As the clocks start to go down, John Zarco was surprised at turn 14 by losing the front of his Ducati GP 19. The French rider got up immediately but his bike was damaged.

Meanwhile, fabio quartararo sets the pace in 1'51.005 then 1'50.677.

At the end of the first quarter of an hour, alone Bradley Smith has not yet taken to the track, while Franco Morbidelli surpasses his teammate in 1'50.533.

The top 10 is then made up by Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Quartararo, Pol Espargaró, Maverick Viñales, Iker Lecuona, Takaaki Nakagami, Álex Márquez, Brad Binder, Stefan Bradl and Álex Rins.

Without predicting the rest of the weekend, the presence of three KTMs in the top 8 is perhaps not unrelated to the numerous tests carried out on this circuit by the Austrian firm...

After getting a little warmth in the place where Johann zarco dropped, Maverick Vinales hoists his Yamaha into second position.

A few seconds later, Alex Marquez makes a minor mistake in turn number 2.

Halfway through the session, Joan mir enters the top 6 while Maverick Vinales takes the lead in 1'49.866. Although the conditions are very particular, we can't help but notice the three Yamahas in the first three places...

Bradley Smith takes the track a quarter of an hour from the checkered flag.

Iker Lecuona, then seventh, was trapped without gravity by turn number 2, just before Franco Morbidelli do the same in #14.

Five minutes from the end of the session, Alex Rins and Cal Crutchlow enter the top 6.

Joan mir places his Suzuki behind the three Yamahas before being overtaken by Alex Marquez in the last minute.

In extremis, fabio quartararo makes a mistake at high speed in turn eight. The Frenchman limps slightly but is not injured.

In the end, an atypical session in which only 10 riders appear in the same second, and where Ducati appears clearly behind Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and KTM.

MotoGP Aragón Grand Prix FP1 standings:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com