Viñales sets early pace from Pol Espargaro at the Cathedral

After a difficult weekend at the Sachsenring, it’s the perfect start to the Motul TT Assen for Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) as the Spaniard topped MotoGP™ FP1 at the Cathedral of Speed, his 1:33.072 was good enough to finish 0.111s ahead of Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team). Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) made it three factories in the top three, the Spaniard 0.429s shy of Viñales’ pace.

The top two in the World Championship are the riders to complete the top five on a busy Friday morning in the Netherlands. Fourth fastest Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and fifth place Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) are over half a second away from Viñales, just nine riders were able to get within a second of the pacesetter in FP1.

Garrett Gerloff (Petronas Yamaha SRT) was unhurt in a Friday morning crash as the American gets to grips with the YZR-M1, the WorldSBK star is standing in for the injured Franco Morbidelli this weekend.

Tune into MotoGP™ FP2 at 14:10 local time (GMT+2).

Top 10:
1. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) – 1:33.072
2. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.111
3. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.429
4. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.561
5. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 0.815
6. Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) + 0.867
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 0.921
8. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.932
9. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.976
10. Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 1.026

FULL RESULTS!