Jerez MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro fastest for Forward in practice one

The Forward Yamaha rider continued to shine on his Open class bike, setting the pace with a 1m39.357s.

The Spaniard used Bridgestone's softest tyre to outpace double champion Jorge Lorenzo, who was over three tenths slower on the works Yamaha.

World champion and current championship leader Marc Marquez was third quickest, albeit nearly half a second behind Espargaro.

Marquez's Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha's Valentino Rossi completed the top five.

Ducati's Cal Crutchlow returned to action following his hand injury and reported no problems during the session, meaning he is likely to continue riding during the weekend. The Briton finished down in 18th position.

That most significant incident of the session took place with less than five minutes to go, when Andrea Iannone crashed his Pramac Ducati at the first corner. He walked away seemingly unscathed.

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Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Aleix Espargaro   Forward Yamaha        1m39.357s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m39.714s  +0.357s
 3.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 1m39.849s  +0.492s
 4.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 1m39.860s  +0.503s
 5.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                1m40.167s  +0.810s
 6.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         1m40.560s  +1.203s
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                1m40.619s  +1.262s
 8.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m40.644s  +1.287s
 9.  Yonny Hernandez   PramacDucati          1m40.686s  +1.329s
10.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m40.758s  +1.401s
11.  Nicky Hayden      Aspar Honda           1m40.846s  +1.489s
12.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         1m40.879s  +1.522s
13.  Michele Pirro     Ducati                1m40.924s  +1.567s
14.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m40.928s  +1.571s
15.  Pol Espargaro     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m41.002s  +1.645s
16.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Aspar Honda           1m41.183s  +1.826s
17.  Colin Edwards     Forward Yamaha        1m41.252s  +1.895s
18.  Cal Crutchlow     Ducati                1m41.364s  +2.007s
19.  Scott Redding     Gresini Honda         1m41.374s  +2.017s
20.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Honda         1m41.578s  +2.221s
21.  Broc Parkes       PBM Aprilia           1m42.171s  +2.814s
22.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda Aprilia          1m42.188s  +2.831s
23.  Mike di Meglio    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m42.346s  +2.989s
24.  Michael Laverty   PBM Aprilia           1m43.015s  +3.658s