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Qatar MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro fastest in opening practice

Aleix Espargaro continued his storming start to 2014 by topping the first practice session of the year in Qatar

The Spaniard, riding Forward's Open class Yamaha, dominated the early part of the session and then surged clear once more as times improved in the final minutes.

His final effort, a 1m55.633s, put him almost half a second clear of a chasing pack led by satellite Factory riders Alvaro Bautista, Bradley Smith, Andrea Iannone and the pacesetter's brother Pol.

The younger Espargaro, riding just two weeks after breaking his collarbone in testing at the Losail track, was the final rider to get within one second of the pace.

Espargaro ready for giantkilling act

The factory riders never came close to hitting the front.

Defending champion Marc Marquez, riding in his first session since breaking his leg last month - and without painkillers - made a quiet start and wound up 11th overall, 1.5s off the pace.

MotoGP 2014: The key storylines

Jorge Lorenzo's tyre concerns returned with a vengeance, with the two-time champion visibly upset with the traction of his Yamaha. He was just two spots ahead of Marquez, and only 14 thousandths of a second faster.

Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi also struggled to make an impact, coming home sixth and seventh respectively, over one second down on the elder Espargaro.

Ducati pair Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso occupied 14th and 15th at the flag.

Satellite stablemate Yonny Hernandez caused the session's only incident when he crashed heavily at Turn 16.

The session was briefly halted to clean the track, while Hernandez was taken to the medical centre for X-rays on his right shoulder.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Aleix Espargaro   Forward Yamaha        1m55.201s
 2.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         1m55.667s  +0.466s
 3.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m55.816s  +0.615s
 4.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         1m55.996s  +0.795s
 5.  Pol Espargaro     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m56.020s  +0.819s
 6.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 1m56.332s  +1.131s
 7.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                1m56.542s  +1.341s
 8.  Colin Edwards     Forward Yamaha        1m56.626s  +1.425s
 9.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m56.668s  +1.467s
10.  Nicky Hayden      Aspar Honda           1m56.670s  +1.469s
11.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 1m56.682s  +1.481s
12.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m56.726s  +1.525s
13.  Cal Crutchlow     Ducati                1m57.046s  +1.845s
14.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                1m57.100s  +1.899s
15.  Yonny Hernandez   Pramac Ducati         1m57.623s  +2.422s
16.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Honda         1m57.779s  +2.578s
17.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Aspar Honda           1m58.182s  +2.981s
18.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m58.394s  +3.193s
19.  Scott Redding     Gresini Honda         1m58.495s  +3.294s
20.  Mike di Meglio    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m58.732s  +3.531s
21.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda Aprilia          1m59.321s  +4.120s
22.  Broc Parkes       PBM Aprilia           1m59.328s  +4.127s
23.  Michael Laverty   PBM Aprilia

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