Francesco Bagnaia took a surprise advantage by topping the timesheets in the opening practice session of the Japanese MotoGP weekend.
Bagnaia was the fastest rider out of the gates, leading the way for the majority of the session as he took the initiative in the opening session of the Motegi weekend.
Aprilia was immediately faced with work to do as Marco Bezzecchi crashed at Turn 11, moments after satellite rider Raul Fernandez also suffered an incident in the opening minutes.
The morning went from bad to worse for Bezzecchi, as he crashed on his second bike midway through the session while factory Ducati riders Marquez and Bagnaia were leading the field.
Enea Bastianini also ended his practice with a crash at Turn 10, while Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller suffered synchronised crashes just seconds later to end the session behind yellow flags.
Bagnaia ultimately topped the session, 0.093s separating him from the next best time.
Jorge Martin set a strong lap time at the end of the practice to split the factory Ducatis, as Marc Marquez completed the top three.
Fabio Di Giannantonio’s best time had him fourth at the flag, while Luca Marini rounded out the top five in Honda’s home race.
Despite their late crashes, Morbidelli and Miller finished the session in sixth and eighth respectively, with the pair split by KTM’s Acosta in seventh.
Somkiat Chantra had his best MotoGP showing as he ended the opening practice in ninth, with Miguel Oliveira completing the top 10.
Bezzecchi was 11th despite multiple crashes ahead of Joan Mir in 12th and Johann Zarco in 13th.
Fernandez recovered from his early crash to finish the session in 14th, while Alex Marquez suffered a slow start to the weekend in 15th.
Fabio Quartararo led the factory Yamaha charge in 16th, as Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami made a good start to his wildcard appearance in 17th.
Home hero Ai Ogura finished the opening session in 18th, with Brad Binder besting Fermin Aldeguer for 19th.
Maverick Vinales finished 21st and was the final rider within a second of Bagnaia’s fastest time, while Alex Rins in 22nd and Enea Bastianini in 23rd concluded the standings.
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