Jorge Martin led the way at the conclusion of Friday running at the Motorland Aragon circuit, the Pramac Ducati pilot heading series leader Fabio Quartararo by just 0.074s.
The Spaniard kept out of the limelight for the bulk of the session as he looked to build his knowledge on used rubber, only heading out on fresh tyres as the session neared its climax.
He managed to find a clean gap behind the second factory Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli on his final run, utilising the slipstream from the back of the Italian’s M1 to bang in a 1:47.402s on the first of his two laps, a potential improvement on his second being lost in the second half of the tour.
The returning Marc Marquez and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini looked good to possibly snatch away the top spot from Martin with their own final gambits, though errors in the final bend for the pair ultimately meant that Martin held onto the top spot heading into qualifying day.
Quartararo ended his first day a strong second at an Aragon venue he has historically struggled at, a new chassis for his M1 seemingly working in the early part of the weekend, while Johann Zarco was third on the sister Pramac Ducati.
Bastianini’s effort was enough for fourth ahead of Bagnaia’s Ducati, while Alex Rins claimed sixth on the Suzuki.
Maverick Vinales was the highest-placed Aprilia in seventh ahead of Marquez, his final corner moment costing him the four-tenths-of-a-second he needed to challenge for the top placings, though he still ended the day as best Honda.
Jack Miller improved late on to take ninth, while Luca Marini completed the top ten on his VR46-run Desmosedici.
Takaaki Nakagami was pushed out of the top ten by Miller at the death and therefore had to settle for 11th just ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder, while Aleix Espargaro was left with work to do on Saturday as he ended up 13th overall off the back of his second crash of the weekend at Turn 14 early in FP2.
Fabio Di Gianantonio was the highest-classified rookie in 16th in the end just clear of fellow newcomer Marco Bezzecchi, while the returning Cal Crutchlow was 19th for RNF Yamaha – the Brit ending the day just a second down on Martin’s benchmark having not raced for a year.
Joan Mir completed his first day riding his Suzuki GSX-RR since fracturing his ankle at the Red Bull Ring last month in 21st, the 2020 MotoGP world champion taking his time to get back to full speed.
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