Marquez tops opening practice at Aragon

Marquez quick in the wet
Marquez quick in the wet

Marc Marquez topped a wet opening practice session for the Aragon Grand Prix in Portugal.

Marquez was already leading when he put up two quick times late on, as the track slowly dried, ending up with a 2:01.243, half a second clear of Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa.

Much of the attention was understandably on Valentino Rossi's return, the Yamaha rider back on his MotoGP bike just 22 days after sustaining double leg break to his right leg.

Rossi briefly spent a phase in the top 10, looking relatively comfortable out on track, and completing eight laps, before returning to the garage to talk with engineers.

As rivals improved, Rossi fell to 18th, around three seconds off the pace, but he still finished ahead of team-mate Maverick Vinales, who started the weekend in 20th.

Practice 1 Results

Pos. Driver Team Time Laps
1. M. Marquez Repsol Honda 02:01.243 10
2. D. Pedrosa Repsol Honda 02:01.741 11
3. J. Zarco Tech 3 02:02.028 17
4. J. Miller Marc VDS 02:02.099 11
5. M. Kallio KTM 02:02.294 11
6. J. Lorenzo Ducati 02:02.386 10
7. C. Crutchlow LCR Honda 02:02.718 10
8. D. Petrucci Pramac 02:02.917 10
9. A. Iannone Suzuki 02:02.957 10
10. A. Dovizioso Ducati 02:03.093 9
11. S. Redding Pramac 02:03.320 12
12. S. Lowes Aprilia 02:03.344 9
13. J. Folger Tech 3 02:03.494 12
14. K. Abraham Aspar 02:03.545 13
15. A. Espargaro Aprilia 02:03.613 7
16. E. Rabat Marc VDS 02:03.673 15
17. P. Espargaro KTM 02:03.694 12
18. V. Rossi Yamaha 02:04.066 8
19. A. Bautista Aspar 02:04.094 10
20. M. Vinales Yamaha 02:04.098 10
21. L. Baz R. Esponsorama 02:04.525 6
22. H. Barbera R. Esponsorama 02:04.609 12
23. A. Rins Suzuki 02:04.625 13
24. B. Smith KTM no time 0