The biggest news over the weekend in Aragon is Vinales’ debut with Aprilia after leaving Yamaha last month.
The nine-time MotoGP race winner, who completed a two-day test at Misano at the RS-GP ahead of this weekend, was one of the first on the track and has steadily run off on lap times as he continues his adjustment process to the RS-GP.
After 21 laps, Vinales finished FP1 19th and 2.1 seconds behind the pace – although this deficit is greatly exaggerated by Marc Marquez’s late time attack.
Teruel GP poleman Takaaki Nakagami set the early pace on his LCR Honda in the 45-minute FP1 with 1: 50.283 minutes, although championship leader Fabio Quartararo soon led his Yamaha to 1: 50.185 minutes.
Ten minutes after the start of the session, Aragon specialist Marquez shot to the top of the rankings with 1: 49.360 minutes, with the Honda factory rider improving these two laps later to 1: 49.171 minutes.
A late spate of fast laps at the end of FP1 resulted in several riders putting pressure on Marquez’s lap, but all of them came close to overturning the Honda rider.
In the final moments of the session, Marquez opted for a fresh, soft slick and duly flashed the timesheets.
Since almost everyone was not looking for a time attack with soft tires, Marquez had to comfortably end FP1 from the field.
Marquez was 0.971 seconds ahead of Suzuki’s Joan Mir, the reigning world champion also fitted a new soft tail for a late explosion – but had a better lap that was canceled because the track limits were exceeded.
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia completed the top three with a 1: 49.193, while Alex Marquez improved to fourth on his LCR Honda after a late attempt on a fresh mid-rear.
Jack Miller completed the top 5 on Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro’s second Ducati works team, fresh from his Silverstone podium.
Johann Zarco finished seventh on the Pramac Ducati from Quartararo, Nakagami and the second factory team Honda from Pol Espargaro.
Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow continues to represent the displaced Vinales and finished 12th at the end of FP1.
Tech 3 KTM’s Iker Lecuona was an early faller on the penultimate corner, while Petronas SRT’s Valentino Rossi fell later on corner 5.
They finished FP1 in 16th and 20th place respectively, while the factory KTM duo Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder finished 18th and 21st, as both appeared to be testing a new chassis this morning.
Jake Dixon got a second MotoGP outing, with SRT stepping in for the injured Franco Morbidelli and completing the field of 22 drivers.