As the temperatures rose, lap times dropped as the day progressed as the MotorLand Aragon circuit warmed up. Alex Marquez showed top ten pace in both sessions as Stefan Bradl set up his base.
There was a delayed start to the eleventh round of the MotoGP World Championship with track temperatures of less than ten degrees for free practice 1, the opening session of the day was then delayed by half an hour. Conditions have improved to allow uninterrupted operation after the delayed start.
The cold morning got off to a solid start for Alex Marquez, who was able to run in the top ten for most of the first session. Alex was the victim of the classic fall in Aragon Turn 2 during the first RP, the MotoGP rookie walked away unharmed. Alex recovered from his crash and ended the morning fourth fastest with a solid final lap. The pace at the end of the workout continued for Alex. The Repsol Honda Team rider set a 1’48.823 on his final flight lap in Free Practice 2 to defend his position in the top ten. Both sessions showed a steady pace with late flashes from a lap from the Le Mans podium finisher.
Friday was a busy day for Stefan Bradl, who adapted the setup of his Repsol Honda Team RC213V to the Aragon circuit. In a fall at Turn 12 with 15 minutes remaining in the FP2 session, Stefan Bradl walked away unharmed and was able to quickly return to the Repsol Honda team’s garage. With a total of 34 laps on the 5.1 kilometer route, the HRC test driver set a best time of 1,50,091.
Cal Crutchlow finished fifth, the fastest of the Honda RC213V machines. Crutchlow, Alex and Takaaki Nakagami in ninth place again made it into the top ten for three Hondas.
The times for the morning sessions on Saturday and Sunday have been revised due to the forecast of cold temperatures. Free practice 3 on Saturday starts half an hour later at 10:25 a.m. local time. The warm-up will be postponed to 10:00 on Sunday. The race is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. local time.