Suzuki’s Rins leads Vinales in FP1

MotoGP’s return to Spain for its second of four races in the country began under perfect conditions, with home favourite Aleix Espargaro setting the early pace on his Aprilia with a 1m41.734s.

The Spaniard comes into the ninth round of the campaign in Barcelona just eight points off the championship lead after becoming just the third rider on the current grid to score four consecutive podiums in a season last time out at Mugello.

Joan Mir on the Suzuki would quickly depose Espargaro with a 1m41.215s, which he bettered on his following tour to a 1m40.907s as the 2020 world champion looks to end Suzuki’s points drought since it made its shock decision to quit MotoGP at the end of 2022.

Espargaro returned to the top of the pile with a 1m40.745s with just over 10 minutes of the 45-minute session gone.

But once again the Aprilia rider’s stint at the head of the field was short-lived, as Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli shot to the top of the order with a 1m40.695s.

The three-time MotoGP race winner’s lap would stand as the benchmark until the final six minutes, as Rins on the second factory Suzuki headed out on fresh medium rubber to end the session.

His first lap on new tyres was a 1m40.631s, before he found a big improvement on his next lap with a 1m40.101s.

As the chequered flag came out, Rins’ time would go unchallenged, leaving him to top the session by 0.195 seconds.

Maverick Vinales joined Rins in fitting fresh medium rubber for a late time attack and jumped up to second with a 1m40.296s, with Morbidelli rounding out the top three.

Aleix Espargaro was fourth in the end after his early stint at the top of the timesheets, with his Honda-mounted brother Pol Espargaro finishing fifth as his absent teammate Marc Marquez underwent successful surgery on his right arm in America on Thursday.

LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was sixth on his RC213V, which has a new chassis and swingarm Marquez had been using previously.

Teammate Alex Marquez was seventh ahead of…