MotoGP Aragon: Marc Marquez leads Valentino Rossi in first practice

Honda's MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez led Yamaha's Valentino Rossi in first practice for the Aragon Grand Prix.

In a fairly quiet session, Marquez set his time of 1m48.830s roughly halfway through the 45 minutes.

Already on top, it extended his advantage to 0.743 seconds over Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, and that margin stood into the closing stages.

But it was then halved by Suzuki's Maverick Vinales and Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso - who set identical lap times - and then by Rossi after the chequered flag.

Having moved up from seventh to fourth on his previous lap, Rossi's 1m49.016s was ultimately 0.186s slower than Marquez, while Vinales and Dovizioso were 0.348s off the pace.

Lorenzo did not use fresh rubber or improve late in the session and finished fifth, ahead of Ducati's Andrea Iannone.

After fracturing a vertebra in his upper back at Misano a fortnight ago,Iannone has been cleared to ride but he reported feeling significant pain.

A decision on whether he continues is expected to be made before second practice, and Ducati has test rider Michele Pirro on standby.

Danilo Petrucci was seventh and the top satellite rider for Pramac Ducati, ahead of Aleix Espargaro - who regrouped from an off at Turn 12 on his Suzuki - Tech3 Yamaha's Pol Espargaro and LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow.

Misano winner Dani Pedrosa had to settle for 11th, 1.163s slower than his team-mate Marquez.

Tito Rabat fell with two minutes to go at Turn 2, and his new Marc VDS Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden was 20th, filling in for the injured Jack Miller.

Yonny Hernandez also crashed at Turn 2 but at the start of the session while Loris Baz, who is returning from injuries sustained at Silverstone, finished at the foot of the times.

FP1 RESULTS

POS	RIDER	TEAM	GAP	LAPS
1	Marc Marquez	Honda	1m48.830s	17
2	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	0.186s	19
3	Maverick Vinales	Suzuki	0.348s	16
4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	0.348s	16
5	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	0.743s	16
6	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	0.771s	17
7	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	0.889s	19
8	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	0.901s	16
9	Pol Espargaro	Tech3 Yamaha	0.908s	19
10	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	0.926s	17
11	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1.163s	17
12	Scott Redding	Pramac Ducati	1.283s	18
13	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia	1.538s	18
14	Hector Barbera	Avintia Ducati	1.884s	17
15	Tito Rabat	Marc VDS Honda	1.986s	20
16	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Ducati	2.128s	15
17	Alex Lowes	Tech3 Yamaha	2.273s	19
18	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia	2.309s	18
19	Yonny Hernandez	Aspar Ducati	2.558s	15
20	Nicky Hayden	Marc VDS Honda	3.043s	17
21	Loris Baz	Avintia Ducati	3.850s	15