Valencia MotoGP FP1: Quartararo and Miller lead Rossi's first dance and crash

It is still in shock from the announcement made by Jorge Lorenzo about his retirement at the end of this meeting in Valencia that the last Grand Prix of the season begins on the Ricardo Tormo track. Eyes will therefore be riveted on a number 99 which will disappear from the landscape this Sunday evening while the other Honda drivers Johann Zarco and Cal Crutchlow will also be observed... Because there is now Marc Márquez's teammate place to take! We almost forget that another event will take place in the KTM clan with the debut of a 19-year-old rider from Moto2: Iker Lecuona. How will the Spaniard behave for a discovery of the elite from FP1 with the RC16 of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team?

Before answering this question, here is the table which presents the facts at the start of hostilities...

Valencia MotoGP™	2018	2019
FP1	1'39.767 Marc Márquez	1'31.455 Fabio Quartararo
FP2	1'41.318 Danilo Petrucci
FP3	1'39.712 Danilo Petrucci
FP4	1'32.571 Marc Márquez
Q1	1'31.382 Andrea Iannone
Q2	1'31.312 Maverick Viñales
warm up	1'40.154 Marc Márquez
Race 1	Rins, Dovizioso, Rossi
Race 2	Dovizioso, Rins, Pol Espargaró
All time lap record	1'29.401 Jorge Lorenzo (2016)

11° in the air and 10° on the track are the cool conditions offered to the pilots during the 45 minutes of exercise. The sky is practically cloudless. The session starts badly for the guest Pirro whose Ducati burst into flames. The Italian manages to bring the injured animal to a marshal's post to contain the fire.

In 1'31.532, Marc Márquez signs the first reference in front Red, Casa Particular in Viñales et Quarterly which show that the Yamahas will be there. After a quarter of an hour spent discovering a MotoGP, and what's more a KTM, lecuona rolls ahead Syahrin…The two Tech3 drivers are in the last two places.

Morbidely passes fourth in front of his teammate so that this first part of the session happens with four Yamahas in the top 5 led by Márquez. zarco is twelfth in front Crutchlow. At Ducati, we take care of the motorcycle Petrucci in light of what happened with Pirro. The same Petrucci, Mir, Miller et Pol Espargaro are in the top 10 which is missing at the moment Dovizioso, Rins, Zarco et Crutchlow.

At mid-session, the top 5 remains the same but Aleix Espargaro invites himself by pointing sixth. Karel Abraham crash at turn 10. He was 20th.

Lorenzo is 15th.

The last quarter of an hour has begun and the pace picks up. Dovizioso et Kidneys enter the top 10 which, remember, opens the doors to Q2. zarco, 12th is still ahead Crutchlow. Ten minutes from the goal, all the drivers are in their box to prepare for the hunt for the clock.

After touring with the Honda with the aluminum swingarm, Johann zarco moves to its second machine equipped with the carbon swingarm. fabio quartararo runs on a new soft tire. There are five minutes left in this session.

Valentino Rossi falls at turn 4 at the first right corner while attempting his first fast lap. This is the seventh fall of the season for the Doctor. Quarterly stays on his wheels and signs a 1'31.536 which puts him third. But ahead, it's Jack Miller who makes the powder speak. He takes the lead with a 1'31.512. This is 20 thousandths better than Marc Marquez.

Under the checkered flag, it's Quarterly who won the bet n 1'31.455 in his final round. Miller, Marquez, Vinales et Morbidely follow. Mir, Pol Espargaro, Rossi despite his fall, Dovizioso et Kidneys close the top 10. zarco is 13th, Crutchlow 15th, Lorenzo 18th and lecuona logically last, a little more than 3 seconds but 189 thousandths behind his teammate Syahrin. Which isn't so bad for a first contact!

Valencia MotoGP FP1: times

1	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	1'31.455
2	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'31.512	0.057	0.057
3	93	Marc MÁRQUEZ	Honda	1'31.532	0.077	0.020
4	12	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	1'31.595	0.140	0.063
5	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	1'31.658	0.203	0.063
6	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'31.794	0.339	0.136
7	44	Pol ESPARGARÓ	KTM	1'31.917	0.462	0.123
8	46	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	1'31.976	0.521	0.059
9	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'32.132	0.677	0.156
10	42	Alex RINS	Suzuki	1'32.206	0.751	0.074
11	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	1'32.235	0.780	0.029
12	41	Aleix ESPARGARÓ	Aprilia	1'32.244	0.789	0.009
13	5	johann zarco	Honda	1'32.512	1.057	0.268
14	51	Michael PIRRO	Ducati	1'32.538	1.083	0.026
15	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'32.727	1.272	0.189
16	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	1'32.769	1.314	0.042
17	82	Mika Kallio	KTM	1'32.852	1.397	0.083
18	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	1'32.860	1.405	0.008
19	17	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	1'33.312	1.857	0.452
20	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'33.365	1.910	0.053
21	53	Tito RABAT	Ducati	1'33.446	1.991	0.081
22	55	Hafiz Syahrin	KTM	1'34.374	2.919	0.928
23	27	Iker LECUONA	KTM	1'34.563	3.108	0.189