Six-time MotoGP world champion Marquez has been absent from competition since the end of the Italian GP at the end of May when he went to America for a fourth major operation on the right arm he badly broke in 2020.
Riding his Honda for the first time since then last week at the two-day Misano test following the San Marino GP, Marquez is making his race weekend return at Aragon.
Staying on the same medium front and rear tyre all session to complete 18 laps, Marquez was just 0.521 seconds off the pace down in 11th as he focused purely on bedding in.
Surprisingly warmer conditions greeted the field for the start of the Aragon weekend on Friday morning.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro set the early pace with a 1m49.349s before Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati took over with a 1m48.321s.
The sister Pramac Ducati of Johann Zarco went fastest just over 10 minutes into the 45-minute session with a 1m48.882s.
Marquez’s future Honda teammate Joan Mir is also back in action at Aragon having missed the Misano round with an ankle injury he suffered at the Austrian GP.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: MotoGP
In a scrappy session, Mir was lucky not to be ejected from his Suzuki going into Turn 7 when the rear of his bike broke away in the opening 10 minutes of FP1.
Having had another run-off later in the session, Mir ended the morning 0.761s off the pace down in 18th.
Zarco’s stint at the top of the session lasted but a couple of minutes as Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati shot to the top of the order with a 1m48.698s.
Espargaro on the Aprilia quickly returned to first with a 1m48.686s, which would keep him top of the pile through to the chequered flag.
The Aprilia rider – who is carrying a finger injury into Aragon – did have a fast crash at the penultimate corner when he lost the front of his RS-GP after running out wide, and initially struggled to hobble away.
However, he was able to get back on his broken bike and return to pitlane.
Bagnaia ended the morning 0.012s adrift in second at a venue where he took his maiden MotoGP win at last year in a battle with Marc Marquez.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: MotoGP
Alex Rins, another prior winner at Aragon, completed the top three on his Suzuki ahead of former Aragon poleman Takaaki Nakagami on the LCR Honda.
Zarco was fifth from Gresini’s Enea Bastianini and the KTM if Miguel Oliveira, as championship leader Fabio Quartararo ended FP1 0.399s off the pace in…
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