Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA
Practice report

Spanish MotoGP: Binder leads Espargaro, Marquez in FP1

KTM’s Brad Binder topped a tight opening practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez by 0.191 seconds from Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Watch: MotoGP: Binder tops FP1

MotoGP returns to Jerez in wildly different conditions to what it found during last year’s double-header run in scorching weather in July.

In the cooler conditions, the top spot changed hands at a frenetic pace as Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro set the early pace with a 1m40.834s.

This was quickly usurped by championship leader Fabio Quartararo, with the Yamaha rider edging ahead with a 1m40.661s before teammate Maverick Vinales dipped into the 1m39s with a 1m39.792s.

Espargaro, Quartararo and Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli continued to trade top spot as the opening 15 minutes of FP1 wore on.

It was the former on the Aprilia who set the benchmark with a 1m38.260s, before eventually bettering that with a 1m38.204s with just over seven minutes remaining.

This came under fire right at the end of the session, when KTM’s Binder started lighting up the timing screens.

Having made a tough start to 2021, largely as a result of Michelin’s front tyre allocation at the opening rounds, one-time race winner Binder shot to the top of the order with a 1m38.013s to end FP1 on top.

Aleix Espargaro held onto second with his 1m38.204s, while Honda’s Marc Marquez completed the top three as he returns to the scene of his season-ending accident last year.

Marquez headed Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and Quartararo, with Pramac’s Johann Zarco rounding out the top six on his Ducati.

Miguel Oliveira completed a strong morning for KTM in seventh ahead of the second works team Honda of Pol Espargaro, while Vinales and reigning world champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki completed the top 10.

Morbidelli slipped to 12th at the chequered flag ahead of Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori and Suzuki’s Alex Rins, with HRC wildcard Stefan Bradl in 15th.

Jack Miller made a low-key start to proceedings on his factory Ducati in 17th, though was only 0.858s off the pace.

Rossi was 20th after a quick start to FP1, while Jorge Martin’s injury stand-in Tito Rabat was 21st in his first MotoGP appearance since losing his Avintia ride at the end of last year.

FP1 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Laps Time Gap
1 33 South Africa Brad Binder
KTM 19 1'38.013
2 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 18 1'38.204 0.191
3 93 Spain Marc Marquez
Honda 20 1'38.291 0.278
4 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 22 1'38.301 0.288
5 20 France Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 19 1'38.344 0.331
6 5 France Johann Zarco
Ducati 19 1'38.397 0.384
7 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira
KTM 18 1'38.398 0.385
8 44 Spain Pol Espargaro
Honda 19 1'38.433 0.420
9 12 Spain Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 22 1'38.434 0.421
10 36 Spain Joan Mir
Suzuki 15 1'38.484 0.471
11 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 19 1'38.484 0.471
12 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 21 1'38.492 0.479
13 32 Italy Lorenzo Savadori
Aprilia 17 1'38.630 0.617
14 42 Spain Alex Rins
Suzuki 18 1'38.706 0.693
15 6 Germany Stefan Bradl
Honda 19 1'38.764 0.751
16 73 Spain Alex Marquez
Honda 20 1'38.819 0.806
17 43 Australia Jack Miller
Ducati 19 1'38.871 0.858
18 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci
KTM 19 1'39.054 1.041
19 23 Italy Enea Bastianini
Ducati 20 1'39.110 1.097
20 46 Italy Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 20 1'39.299 1.286
21 53 Spain Tito Rabat
Ducati 21 1'39.502 1.489
22 10 Italy Luca Marini
Ducati 19 1'39.531 1.518
23 27 Spain Iker Lecuona
KTM 19 1'39.825 1.812

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation

Related video

Previous article MotoGP riders open up on social media struggles
Next article Marquez: Star Moto3 rookie Acosta will be in MotoGP “soon”

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA