Marquez Fastest In FP1

The track temperature rose somewhat for the opening MotoGP session of the weekend to 25C, but only to 21C at turn eleven which caused a few problems for some.

Pol Espargaro was the first to fall victim to the 'Waterfall' when he lost the front of his Tech 3 Yamaha on the change of direction. Alvaro Bautista followed him in fifteen minutes later. Both were okay, but their bikes took a fair old beating.

Marc Marquez returned to form two weeks ago in Assen with a revised RC213V, which combined the 2014 chassis with the 2015 engine and swingarm. The Sachsenring is a circuit suited to Honda and the Spaniard in particular, who has won the last five of his races here. He was in commanding form this morning, posting a fastest time of 1:21.766 late in the session whilst running the asymmetric front tyre. He was also fastest prior to that on the standard soft front, pointing towards a 2014 style weekend for the reigning world champion.

Valentino Rossi was 2nd quickest with a 1:22.102 and knows that this weekend will be a tricky affair with Marquez out for revenge after their Assen coming together. The championship leaders weekend may be made a little easier by the fact that team-mate Jorge Lorenzo looks to be struggling. Jorge Lorenzo was only 7th fastest this morning on a 1:22.445. The Spaniard has never won in Germany and now trails Rossi by ten points, so he needs to dig deep in the period between now and FP2 to find something with the set-up to try and push him up the order.

The surprise of the morning came in the for of Scott Redding who finished the session 3rd quickest on the Marc VDS Honda. The Briton has struggled with the feeling of his bike over the past few races, and though he did find a tow on his fastest lap it will definitely have given him a big confidence boost going forward.

Dani Pedrosa was 4th and Yonny Hernandez completed the top five for the Pramac Ducati team, who enjoyed a strong morning with Danilo Petrucci 14th.

The Factory Ducatis had a troublesome morning session. Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone did end up 6th and 10th respectively, but sat outside the top ten for much of the session. They are learning every circuit from scratch with the new bike, but their pace has dropped over the past couple of rounds.

Michael Laverty returns to action this weekend at Aprilia and ended his first session for the team 23rd . Claudio Corti stands in for Stefan Bradl at Forward Racing and was 25th, with Hiroshi Aoyama 20th on the AB Motoracing Honda.

FP1 Top 10:

1st Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, 1:21.766

2nd Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:22.102

3rd Scott Redding, EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda, 1:22.167

4th Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team, 1:22.243

5th Yonny Hernandez, Pramac Racing Ducati, 1:22.396

6th Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team, 1:22.428

7th Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:22.445

8th Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar, 1:22.462

9th Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR Honda, 1:22.567

10th Maverick Vinales, Team Suzuki Ecstar, 1:22.670

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