MILLER FASTEST ON FRIDAY AT ARAGON

Australian Jack Miller ended the opening day of MotoGP free practice action at the top of the timesheets competing at the Aragon Circuit in Spain.

It was an incredibly tight and frantic opening day particularly in the final minutes when almost everybody was setting their fastest times of the day.

At the end of the two 45-minute practice sessions it was factory Ducati rider Miller who was on top of the timesheets, setting a 1m 47.613s time.

Only one man did not improve his time in the second session, and that was factory Honda rider Marc Marquez who topped the times in practice 1.

At the end of the day Miller was on top of the timesheets by a considerable 0.273s from inform factory Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro.

The Spaniard took the brands first podium in the MotoGP era in the last round at Silverstone and continued the strong showing at Aragon.

Impressively replacement factory Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow was third fastest, the Englishman set his time late on, ending the day only 0.011s slower than Espargaro.

Next came the two Pramac Ducati riders, title contender Johann Zarco ended the day in fourth ahead of the rookie sensation, Styrian Grand Prix, Jorge Martin.

Miller’s Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia suffered a crash at Turn 5 in practice 2, however he recovered well to end the day in the top six.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo sat outside of the top 10 in the closing stages of the day, however a late improvement saw him end up in seventh.

After topping the times in practice 1, Marquez suffered an early crash in FP2 when he outbroke himself and had to avoid his brother Alex.

As a result, Marc lost the front and suffered a fast crash at the final corner.

With only one bike available for the remainder of the session the Spaniard did not improve on his practice 1 time which was good enough for eighth overall. In the opening session Marquez was fastest by over 0.9s from reigning champion Joan Mir.

Just behind Marquez was satellite LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami and Enea Bastianini in ninth and 10th respectively.

It was an incredibly tight day in Spain with the top 17 all within 1s of Miller’s time.

Silverstone pole sitter Pol Espargaro was 11th fastest at the end of the day, while notably both Suzuki riders were outside of the top 10, Alex Rins in 12th and Mir 21st.

It was a tough day in the office for MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, after a crash in practice 1 he ended the day 19th, just ahead of his former teammate Maverick Vinales who will make his first race start with Aprilia this weekend.

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