Le Mans MotoGP: Marc Marquez edges Andrea Dovizioso in practice one

In cool but sunny conditions, the lap times on the Le Mans Bugatti circuit tumbled in the final part of the 45-minute session with the top spot changing hands several times.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales looked to be in a strong position to top a race weekend session for the first time since last year's Aragon race when he moved ahead with nine minutes to go, knocking the Suzuki of Andrea Iannone off the top spot.

A succession of improvements by Vinales, culminating in a 1m42.543s, gave him a cushion of nearly half a second over his pursuers.

With just two minutes remaining, Marquez moved up to second on the works Honda, 0.051s behind Vinales, before Ducati rider Dovizioso posted a 1m32.501s to go fastest with less than a minute left.

But after the chequered flag came out, Marquez managed to put in a time 0.025s faster to end the morning on top ahead, with Vinales having to settle for third, 0.067s down.

Marquez used the new Honda fairing first tried at Jerez during the session.

Best of the rest was LCR Honda man Cal Crutchlow, 0.258s off the pace of stablemate Marquez and 0.021s ahead of fellow privateer Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha) in fifth.

Valentino Rossi enjoyed several spells at the head of the times early on, but slumped to sixth in the final part of the session aboard the second works Yamahas, 0.301s off the pace.

Iannone was seventh, followed by Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) and the two KTMs of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, which completed the top 10.

Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller crashed at the Dunlop chicane on his way to 12th, one place behind team-mate Danilo Petrucci, while Aleix Espargaro was Aprilia's lead runner in 14th.

The only other crasher besides Miller was Thomas Luthi (Marc VDS Honda), who went down at the same corner in the final minutes and was classified last.

FP1 times

Pos	Rider	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Marc Marquez	Honda	1m32.476s	-	22
2	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1m32.501s	0.025s	19
3	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	1m32.543s	0.067s	25
4	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	1m32.734s	0.258s	22
5	Johann Zarco	Tech3 Yamaha	1m32.755s	0.279s	19
6	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1m32.777s	0.301s	20
7	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1m32.919s	0.443s	22
8	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1m33.084s	0.608s	19
9	Bradley Smith	KTM	1m33.157s	0.681s	20
10	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1m33.245s	0.769s	19
11	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	1m33.254s	0.778s	19
12	Jack Miller	Pramac Ducati	1m33.268s	0.792s	18
13	Tito Rabat	Avintia Ducati	1m33.326s	0.850s	25
14	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1m33.380s	0.904s	20
15	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1m33.389s	0.913s	24
16	Alvaro Bautista	Aspar Ducati	1m33.492s	1.016s	20
17	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1m33.692s	1.216s	22
18	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda	1m33.833s	1.357s	19
19	Scott Redding	Aprilia	1m33.851s	1.375s	19
20	Karel Abraham	Aspar Ducati	1m34.333s	1.857s	19
21	Franco Morbidelli	MVDS Honda	1m34.509s	2.033s	19
22	Hafizh Syahrin	Tech3 Yamaha	1m34.600s	2.124s	19
23	Xavier Simeon	Avintia Ducati	1m35.224s	2.748s	20
24	Thomas Luthi	MVDS Honda	1m35.232s	2.756s	18