Marc Marquez ruled practice on Friday at the Aragon MotoGP, the six-time champion lowering the track record to raise hopes of ending a three-year losing streak.
.gif)
The Spaniard, already a five-time winner at the circuit in the top category, led the way with a fastest lap of 1min 45.801sec.
Marquez has enjoyed an upturn in form since recovering from a series of injury-marred seasons and switching from Honda to ride this year for Ducati's satellite Gresini team.
The 31-year-old topped the times for this 12th round of 2024 by 0.272s from Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro.
It's been a perfect Friday for @marcmarquez93 👌
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 30, 2024
Fastest in FP1 and Practice + new all-time lap record 🔥💥😎#AragonGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/L0w5Q56uRx
Marquez is moving up to the factory Ducati team next season to race alongside double world champion Francesco Bagnaia.
Bagnaia, who leads this year's championship by five points from Jorge Martin, made up ground towards the end of the day to be placed sixth.
The resurfaced track proved tricky with a number of riders hitting the deck including former champion Fabio Quartararo, who parted company with his Yamaha.
The 10 quickest riders go straight through to Saturday's qualifying session which shapes the first four rows of the grid for the sprint race and Sunday's main event.
This group are joined by the fastest two in Saturday's first qualifying stint.
ARAGON MOTOGP PRACTICE RESULTS
1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) 1min 45.801sec,
2. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) at 0.272sec,
3. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 0.316,
4. Jorge Martín (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) 0.578,
5. Alex Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) 0.605,
6. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 0.790,
7. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Ducati-Pramac) 0.904,
8. Johann Zarco (FRA/Honda-LCR) 0.931,
9. Raul Fernandez (ESP/Aprilia-Trackhouse) 1.039,
10. Miguel Oliveira (POR/Aprilia-Trackhouse) 1.054
11. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 1.083,
12. Pedro Acosta (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3) 1.131,
13. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 1.145,
14. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 1.228,
15. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Ducati) 1.230,
16. Jack Miller (AUS/KTM) 1.468,
17. Luca Marini (ITA/Honda) 1.479,
18. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3) 1.501,
19. Alex Rins (ESP/Yamaha) 1.599,
20. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 1.600,
21. Joan Mir (ESP/Honda) 2.042,
22. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 2.640