Fabio Quartararo for the fifth time in the first free practice of the Spanish Grand Prix despite a crash, Joan Mir in the lead

Fabio Quartararo did not spend all his time in the Yamaha garage or on the track at Jerez on Friday morning during the first free practice of the Spanish Grand Prix. The Frenchman also took a short walk in his dressing room to recover from a fall at the start of the session that shook his leg so hard.

But everything seemed to work out after a few minutes for the world champion, who was able to resume his journey to finish with the fifth time from this start in Andalusia. Quartararo got off to a solid start, the first driver to go below 1’40 inches, and his rise to power was interrupted by a 13-turn slip where he just passed Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Back on the track, the champ doesn’t look unstable, but he made a couple of track mistakes that might have prevented him from going even higher (he finished the race in 1’38”439). The Suzukis took the opportunity to highlight themselves by including the first two places: the first for Joan Mir (at 1’38”194), and the second for Alex Rains (at 1’38”219).

Ducati in the hard, Zarco 17

On the other hand, the ducats encountered a lot of difficulties. Johann Zarco struggled and the Frenchman from Bramac couldn’t do better than 17th in these first attempts (at 1’39’033). Jack Miller ranked 10th, Francesco Bagnaia 13th, and Jorge Martin 14th. Marc Marquez (Honda) started well but refused to end up in 11th.