Johann Zarco was the fastest in the first free practice of the Valencia MotoGP GP. Almost always a Ducati was at the top of the timesheets, and the Frenchman set the pace.
Zarco (Pramac Racing/Ducati) was the initial session leader, ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda). However, the second flying laps completely reshuffled the standings, with Jorge Martín (Pramac Racing/Ducati) moving to the top and Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) to second.
Despite holding the lead, Martín saw Álex Márquez (Gresini Racing/Ducati) quickly approaching… before being overtaken by the same rival. Martín lost the lead to Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati), but he would regain the top spot on the timesheets with a lead of six thousandths.
With ten minutes gone, Fabio di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing/Ducati) took the lead, being 26 thousandths faster than Martín. Around the same time, the first crashes of the session occurred: both Mir and Álex Márquez, fortunately without major consequences.
The standings stabilized until about 21 minutes before the checkered flag, when Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati) placed themselves, respectively, in first and second. Shortly after, both were overtaken by Maverick Viñales (Aprilia). However, Viñales was later overtaken by di Giannantonio.
But the best lap came right at the end, when Zarco clocked a time of 1m30.191s to beat di Giannantonio by 0.187s. Martín finished third, 0.259s behind, with Bezzecchi and Viñales completing the top five. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), the championship leader, started with a modest 13th place.
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