Practice report

Jerez MotoGP: Marquez tops warm-up despite more Honda problems

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez set the pace in the Sunday morning warm-up at Jerez despite Honda's streak of mechanical problems continuing on his bike.

Marquez lost drive in his bike on the exit of the final corner of his first lap, and fell off the RC213V as he tried to duck into the pits instead of going onto the main straight.

But Marquez quickly refired his bike and reached his garage, re-entering the track on his second Honda a few minutes later.

Though he nearly crashed that one as well following a big rear tyre slide at Turn 2, Marquez took the lead from Franco Morbidelli with five minutes on the clock.

At a time the rest of the field could not go below the 1m38s barrier, Marquez did a 1m37.776s and then a 1m37.595s in quick succession.

Maverick Vinales eventually did a 1m37.9s before the session ended but Marquez still comfortably topped the warm-up, with a gap of 0.341s.

Suzuki's Joan Mir grabbed third after the chequered flag fell, demoting Franco Morbidelli, who had led for a few minutes before Marquez took over.

LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami was fifth followed by Aleix Espargaro - whose Aprilia teammate Andrea Iannone withdrew from the Spanish GP following a Saturday crash - but the Spaniard set his best time with a soft rear tyre.

Pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo was seventh, narrowly outpacing Ducati factory rider Danilo Petrucci, whose teammate Andrea Dovizioso was beaten to ninth place by Cal Crutchlow.

Jorge Lorenzo led in the early stages but ended up 11th, ahead of top KTM Pol Espargaro, as Valentino Rossi continued his underwhelming weekend in 15th.

Warm-up results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Marc Marquez	Honda	10	1'37.595
2	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	12	1'37.936	0.341
3	Joan Mir	Suzuki	11	1'38.056	0.461
4	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	12	1'38.065	0.470
5	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	12	1'38.119	0.524
6	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	12	1'38.127	0.532
7	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	11	1'38.148	0.553
8	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	12	1'38.172	0.577
9	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	11	1'38.232	0.637
10	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	12	1'38.260	0.665
11	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	12	1'38.262	0.667
12	Pol Espargaro	KTM	12	1'38.336	0.741
13	Stefan Bradl	Honda	12	1'38.484	0.889
14	Tito Rabat	Ducati	12	1'38.561	0.966
15	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	11	1'38.565	0.970
16	Alex Rins	Suzuki	11	1'38.630	1.035
17	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	12	1'38.840	1.245
18	Jack Miller	Ducati	12	1'38.842	1.247
19	Johann Zarco	KTM	9	1'39.134	1.539
20	Karel Abraham	Ducati	12	1'39.480	1.885
21	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	11	1'39.488	1.893
22	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	7	1'39.665	2.070
23	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	10	1'41.092	3.497
View full results