Rossi tops first practice at Misano

Yamaha's Valentino Rossi topped Friday's first free practice session for the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, as five riders suffered crashes.

Rossi held top spot heading into the final few minutes and lowered the benchmark again to 1:33.451 after the checkered flag had dropped.

Pol Espargaro finished 0.136s adrift on his satellite Yamaha M1 (Tech 3), with Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales a similar margin further back.

Marc Márquez followed in fourth, despite a half-fall at Turn 10, during which he held on to his bike, and rejoined with help from the marshals.

Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa were fifth and sixth on the other works Yamaha and Honda machines, with Andrea Dovizioso the fastest of the factory Ducati riders.

Dovizioso's team-mate, Andrea Iannone, finished in 18th, after falling at Turn 12 early in the session, which prompted a trip to the medical centre for precautionary x-rays.

Avintia's Hector Barberá placed eighth, as Cal Crutchlow (LCR) and Scott Redding (Pramac) completed the top 10, the latter stopping on track late on amid plumes of smoke.

In an ultra-close session, less than a second covered the top 15.

Aspar's Eugene Laverty, Marc VDS' Tito Rabat and Pramac's Danilo Petrucci were the others to crash over 45 minutes, with all three walking away from their damaged bikes.

Results

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'33.451 0.000 / 0.000
2 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'33.587 0.136 / 0.136
3 25 Maverick VINALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1'33.713 0.262 / 0.126
4 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'33.729 0.278 / 0.016
5 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'33.774 0.323 / 0.045
6 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'33.786 0.335 / 0.012
7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'33.863 0.412 / 0.077
8 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'33.882 0.431 / 0.019
9 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 1'33.920 0.469 / 0.038
10 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati 1'34.034 0.583 / 0.114
11 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1'34.072 0.621 / 0.038
12 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'34.126 0.675 / 0.054
13 43 Jack MILLER AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'34.143 0.692 / 0.017
14 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'34.234 0.783 / 0.091
15 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati 1'34.412 0.961 / 0.178
16 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'34.496 1.045 / 0.084
17 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'34.699 1.248 / 0.203
18 22 Alex LOWES GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'34.923 1.472 / 0.224
19 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati 1'34.925 1.474 / 0.002
20 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati 1'35.280 1.829 / 0.355
21 53 Tito RABAT SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'35.302 1.851 / 0.022
22 12 Javier FORES SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'37.090 3.639 / 1.788