ALCANIZ, Spain – Marc Marquez easily topped the speed charts on the opening day of MotoGP action Friday at Motorland Aragón.
Marquez was more than a second clear of his closest rivals aboard his Repsol Honda bike, topping the practice charts with a fast lap of 1:46.869. Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales was second fastest, 1.145 seconds slower than Marquez.
“Today we started very well and actually we ended quite well too,” Marquez said. “In the morning we did our time attack, I felt good and with the potential weather tomorrow I thought it was best. It was a quite good lap. In the afternoon we worked a lot with used tires and unfortunately had a small crash but we learned a lot from it. Aside from this little fall everything went well and I think there’s still some more time to find.”
Marquez’s fast lap came in the first practice, but it wasn’t all roses in the second practice. Marquez crashed his Honda in turn eight, but escaped uninjured and was able to continue.
Despite being more than a second off the pace set by Marquez in the first practice, Yamaha riders swept the top-three positions in the second practice.
Vinales’ lap left him second fastest overall, followed by fellow Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Fabio Quartararo. Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro was fifth fastest overall, 1.5 seconds behind Marquez.