Brad Binder left it late to secure top spoꦑt in FP1 for the Qatar MotoGP, while world cham📖pion Fabio Quartararo could only manage 11th.

The first practice session of 2022 got underway wit🃏h immediate issues for Brad’s brother Darryn Binder as part of the South African rider’s left-♊sided fairing came undone. 

Aleix Espargaro was the early pacesetter for Aprilia Racing, while Alex Rins continued his ཧimpressive pre-season form to slot into second. The fastest ever rider around the Sepang International Circuit, Enea Bastianini was third following the opening flurry of laps. 

While Espargaro continued to impro♒ve and therefore keep hold of 💖top spot, Marc Marquez went second fastest aboard the completely revamped RC213V Repsol Honda. 

Espargaro momentarily built up a 🅺four tenth advantage over Marquez before the Spaniard and Pol Espargaro reduced it to just over one🥀 tenth.

While most of the ex♔pected 2022 title contenders were running inside the top ten, Joan Mir was the big name who spent considerable amounts of time languishing down the pecking order. 

That all changed with just under half of FP1 to go as the Suzuki rider wentꦯ fifth, one place behind team-mate Rins. 

As was the case for much of🔯 pre-season testing, Raul Fernandez was the top rookie througho🍒ut FP1.

Following a clean Moto3 and Moto2 FP1 with regards to crashes, Fabio Di Giannant🏅onio became the first faller of the new season. The Italian crashed at turn 3 but was unhurt and back on his feet immediately. 

After spending more than 35 minutes on top, Espargaro was relegated to second by Mir with six minutes to go,💖 which was just moments before Francesco Bagnaia suffered a surprising crash at turn 6. 

The Ducati rider lost the front end very early on, but like Di Gܫiannantonio he was back on his feet quickly. 

Mir’s stint a✨t the top was very short-lived as team-mate Rins went quickest after becoming the first rider to fit the soft rea𝕴r tyre.

However, in typical free practice fashion a lဣate surge of laps saw the leaderboard change drastically as Binder went fastest from Takaaki Nakagami and Marquez. 

The KTM rider eventually held on from Nakagami and Rins in third, while P♍ol Espargaro moved up to fourth 💜to pip team-mate Marquez. 

Sixth was Morbidelli, while Mir, A. Espargaro, Alex Marquez and Miguel Oliveira rounded💯 out the top ten. Quartararo was the first rider to miss out on a top ten finish. 

Ducati’s slow start during t🍃he early part of FP1 continued until the checkered flag dropped as Ma🀅rtin secured a best of 12th for the Italian manufacturer.