The FP1 for the Spanish MotoGP Grand Prix was largely dominated by Aleix Espargaro and championship leader Fabio Quartararo before Brad Binder’s later attack gave KTM the top spot.
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In the last moments of the session, the South African climbed from 16th to third place before becoming fastest on his last lap with 1: 38.013s.
After a difficult start to the year for the Austrian manufacturer, Binder’s fastest time also means that KTM is leading its first MotoGP session this year.
In the beginning it was Espargaro and Quartararo who took the lead as both drivers swapped the fastest times during the first 15 minutes.
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After Espargaro and Aprilia tested in Jerez earlier this year because the team was the last with available concessions – and given Andrea Dovizioso’s recent outing in Andalusia, the Spaniard was able to immediately find the pace as he led the majority of the race.
It wasn’t until Binder’s final lap that Espargaro was relegated to second place, where he ended the session.
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Marc Marquez made another positive step forward after his MotoGP return in Portugal, when he too improved the ranking from 11th to third place late.
Fourth was the factory Lenovo Ducati owned by Francesco Bagnaia, which will start this Sunday’s race as second in the championship standings. The driver in fifth place, and thus five different manufacturers in the top five, was Quartararo for Monster Energy Yamaha.
Since the last race winner Quartararo was no worse than second in his MotoGP career so far in Jerez, it is no surprise that the Frenchman battled for the top spot again.
Sixth was Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco, who was third fastest for a large part of the session. Zarco was consistently the fastest man in the first two sectors but seemed to lose most of the time to Quartararo and Espargaro, especially in the last sector which includes the four right and Jorge Lorenzo’s corner.
It was also a good start to the weekend for Miguel Oliveira after a home game to forget as he was eliminated from the race he dominated last year.
The top ten was rounded off by the second Repsol Honda from Pol Espargaro in eighth, Maverick Vinales in ninth and world champion Joan Mir in tenth, who had problems with his GSX-RR early on and was the last rider to drive a time.