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

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez led the opening practice session for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, beating Andrea Dovizioso by a scant 0.025 seconds

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


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