MotoGP Japanese GP: Martin fastest, then crashes in FP1

Martin, who arrives in Japan only 13 points behind fellow Ducati man Francesco Bagnaia, topped the timesheets with a best effort of 1m45.192s, which was enough to top the session by 0.138s from Augusto Fernandez.

That came at the end of a run of three successive improvements for the Pramac rider, who knocked Bagnaia off the head of the standings with a 1m45.509s before finding just over three tenths over his next two laps.

But Martin's run came to an abrupt end when he appeared to misjudge his braking for the Turn 3 left-hander, running into the gravel and suffering a relatively low-speed tumble with nine minutes to go.

He was able to return to action for the final minutes of the session, but didn't improve his time further.

Behind surprise package Fernandez on the Tech3 GasGas, Marco Bezzecchi made a late improvement on his VR46 Ducati to jump up to third, 0.318s off the pace established by Martin.

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia was fourth-fastest with his early benchmark of 1m45.631s, going no quicker later on.

Joan Mir was an encouraging fifth fastest on the Honda, within half a second of Martin, having revealed his intentions on Thursday to try the 2024-spec chassis that was not available to him last weekend in India.

That was despite Mir suffering a crash at Turn 5 around halfway through the 45-minute session.

Next up was lead KTM man Brad Binder, Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales and last year's Japanese GP winner Jack Miller on the second of the KTMs.

Yamaha's lead representative was Fabio Quartararo in ninth place, 0.760s off the pace, while Marc Marquez was 13th on the second of the works Honda, more than eight tenths adrift.

Wildcard rider Cal Crutchlow was 18th-fastest on his Yamaha as he gears up for his first MotoGP race weekend since last year's Valencia GP.

LCR Honda's home hero Takaaki Nakagami was a low-key 19th, while Alex Rins, making his return from a long injury layoff this weekend, was 21st and last, 2.3 seconds off the pace and nearly half a second down on the next-slowest rider, Ducati replacement rider Michele Pirro.

MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix - First practice results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

         

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89		Ducati	16	1'45.192		164.305
2	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37		KTM	19	+0.138	0.138	164.090
3	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72		Ducati	17	+0.318	0.180	163.810
4	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1		Ducati	18	+0.439	0.121	163.622
5	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36		Honda	15	+0.493	0.054	163.538
6	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	17	+0.555	0.062	163.442
7	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12		Aprilia	18	+0.627	0.072	163.331
8	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43		KTM	18	+0.710	0.083	163.203
9	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	20	+0.760	0.050	163.126
10	R. Fernández RNF Racing	25		Aprilia	19	+0.774	0.014	163.105
11	J. Zarco Pramac Racing	5		Ducati	15	+0.826	0.052	163.025
12	F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing	21		Yamaha	20	+0.835	0.009	163.011
13	M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team	93		Honda	19	+0.841	0.006	163.002
14	F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing	49		Ducati	19	+0.968	0.127	162.807
15	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44		KTM	15	+0.989	0.021	162.774
16	M. Oliveira RNF Racing	88		Aprilia	18	+1.006	0.017	162.748
17	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41		Aprilia	16	+1.037	0.031	162.701
18	C. Crutchlow Yamalube RS4GP Racing Team	35		Yamaha	16	+1.110	0.073	162.589
19	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30		Honda	16	+1.142	0.032	162.540
20	M. Pirro Ducati Team	51		Ducati	16	+1.940	0.798	161.329
21	A. Rins Team LCR	42		Honda	16	+2.395	0.455	160.647
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