Misano MotoGP: Quartararo leads the way in FP1

The Frenchman, whohad topped both days of the Misano test two weeks prior, outpaced Marc Marquez by nearly four tenths courtesy of a late fresh-tyre run - but had already spent most of FP1 in first place by then.

Quartararo and Marquez took turns in the lead in the opening spell of the session, the French rookie ending up on a 1m33.516s to Marquez's 1m33.575s at the conclusion of their first runs on the medium rear tyre.

Yamaha works rider Maverick Vinales was the only rider to run the pair close for most of FP1, less than a tenth off, with the rest of the pack another four tenths off the pace.

Marquez lapped within 0.013s of Quartararo's benchmark just after the halfway point in the session, while the Petronas Yamaha rider came up just a hundredth short of improving his laptime.

Quartararo then equipped a pair of fresh mediums for his final run, and fired in a 1m33.153s, before nearly slipping off his bike at the fast Curvone right-hander on his next attempt.

Marquez and Vinales made up the top three behind him, with wildcard Michele Pirro picking up fourth place as the lead Ducati.

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro led brother Pol in fifth, the latter towing Marquez on his fastest lap.

Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi made it four Yamahas in the top nine, the pair split by Ducati's Danilo Petrucci, with Rossi running Yamaha's new brake cover, exhaust and carbon swingarm.

Avintia Ducati's Tito Rabat led works rider Andrea Dovizioso by 0.013s in 10th, but crashed late on in the session at Turn 5, nearly collecting Honda's Jorge Lorenzo in the process after he overtook the three-time world champion.

The two other riders to crash - Aprilia's Andrea Iannone and Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller - both went down at the Quercia left-hander.

Tech 3 KTM's Miguel Oliveira and Lorenzo, two riders who pulled out of the Misano test with injury, were 20th and 21st respectively, both just over two seconds off the pace.

Session results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1'33.153
2	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'33.529	0.376
3	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'33.599	0.446
4	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1'33.704	0.551
5	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'33.762	0.609
6	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'34.002	0.849
7	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1'34.039	0.886
8	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'34.149	0.996
9	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'34.182	1.029
10	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1'34.261	1.108
11	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'34.274	1.121
12	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'34.284	1.131
13	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'34.324	1.171
14	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'34.374	1.221
15	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'34.487	1.334
16	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'34.512	1.359
17	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1'34.568	1.415
18	5	Johann Zarco	KTM	1'34.760	1.607
19	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	1'34.990	1.837
20	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1'35.264	2.111
21	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	1'35.292	2.139
22	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'35.320	2.167
23	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	1'36.180	3.027
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