First day on the track at Aragon in the name of Marc Marquez in the morning and Jack Miller’s Ducati in the afternoon. On the home circuit where MotoGP will take place on Sunday, the Honda Spaniard draws a perfect first free practice session, while in the second session he gets lost after an avoidable crash while racing alongside his brother Alex’s bike. Ducati takes advantage of this and in the final rush of tests surprises everyone thanks to the great time of Jack Miller (1’47”613) who, amidst bends, overtaking and crashes, puts everyone in line. Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia is very good, confirming himself, with a precious second time, after the historic podium conquered at Silverstone, while the new entry in Noale begins slowly, namely Maverick Vinales who does no better than a nineteenth time. At the bottom of the group also Valentino Rossi, never a protagonist on Friday in Aragon. Lurking and waiting to unleash in qualifying the World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo who with his Yamaha finished in seventh place behind Francesco Bagnaia’s Ducati which confirms the good moment of the Borgo Panigale Red.
«Well today both Miller and Bagnaia – underlines the Ducati sporting director, Paolo Ciabatti -. We are very satisfied with the first day. Aragon has not always been one of the most favorable circuits for us, but it is certainly a good start ». To explain Quartararo’s subdued turn is the Yamaha team manager, Massimo Meregalli, who also talks about Franco Morbidelli, new rider of the Japanese team: “We are waiting for the last feedback from him, we should have it tonight, however he will want to try it at Misano. . As for today’s free practice, Quartararo was stung by an insect probably in the good lap for the time attack. But everything is ok, it is not one of his favorite tracks but we are working well, we are satisfied ».
After dominating in the morning practice, Marquez was held back by a crash at the start of the second session. The Honda Spaniard ended up on the ground at turn 16 with the soft at the rear, the same one with which he had finished the session this morning. At Aragon, Marquez – who at times seemed to be the cannibal of the times before the Jerez accident – has an impressive roadmap, with five wins in seven races in the top-class. Here he either won, or he fell (2014 and 2015). In fact, he has been unbeaten since 2016: in the last four races, until 2019, no one has preceded him under the checkered flag. And today he immediately confirmed the excellent feeling with the Spanish track.