It was a mixed Friday morning at the Gran Premio Animoca Brands de Aragon for Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro, who set the pace in MotoGP™ FP1 but also had a painful crash. Riding not too far from home turf, Espargaro clocked a 1:48.686s on medium compound Michelin slick tyres during his first run, and that would prove to be the very fastest lap of the session. However, Aprilia’s ‘Captain’ then had a spill at Turn 16 at the start of his second run, adding a sore left knee to the finger fracture which he sustained in last week’s Misano Official Test. Fortunately, he was able to hop back on a bike and accumulate some more mileage later in FP1, although then there was another mishap in the form of what looked like a ride height device issue during his practice start at the end of proceedings.