In changing conditions at the Aragon Circuit in Spain it was the Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa at the top of the combined timesheets.

The entire day at the Motorland Aragon Circuit was affected by the weather, as the conditions were neither completely wet nor dry, effectively blocking all attempts for teams and riders to test the desired items and setup.

Pedrosa was the only rider to make it under the 2 minute mark.

“I'm happy with this day, even if it was obviously a bit strange,” Dani said. “Both times when we were preparing to go on track, it started to rain and we had to change setup and tyres. As it happened, we never had the opportunity to fit the slicks and didn't do a lot of laps in the rain either because the track was wet, though not too much. This afternoon in particular, the last part of the track was almost dry, the long corner and the straight, and the tyres warmed up quite a lot. Tomorrow we'll see which conditions we'll have and what feeling we'll be able to find.”

Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo was second quickest, however he was over three and half tenths off Pedrosa's leading pace with the Monster Tech 3 rider of Johann Zarco another two and half tenths further back in third.

Meanwhile, His teammate Jonas Folger resolutely fought against the tricky track conditions with a run to 13th in the morning practice and in FP2, he carried on his work as the asphalt dried before finishing in 18th overall.

“It was a tricky first day because the weather made things difficult. In the second practice, the track was soaked at the beginning, but then it cleared,” Folger said. “So it was not easy to use a wet setting as the circuit was drying at the same time, and then we had to readjust the setup for the dry. For me as a rider, it was not easy to adapt to these conditions. In addition, we didn't take a lot of risks today, but we tried to work on our wet setting and the main target was to improve, especially in the rain. In the end, we are further back than we would like to be, however, it looks like the weather will be better tomorrow and on Sunday, so we will attack in FP3 and then get closer to the front."

The fastest Yamaha factory rider was Maverick Vinales down in 17th place while the returning Valentino Rossi was 20th overall.

“It has been a challenging start to the weekend for us. We suffered a lot due to a lack of grip,” explained Yamaha's Massimo Meregalli. “After Misano, we were not expecting to face this setback. Both Maverick and Valentino didn‘t get a good feeling on the bike and were experiencing a lot of spin, which caused a loss in power and prevented them from riding the way they wanted to. We didn‘t know what to expect from Vale on this first day of riding, but the wet conditions gave him a smooth transition coming back from injury. Today‘s goal was for him to get familiarised with the bike again. However, we are expecting dry conditions tomorrow and only then will we truly know where he stands.”

GP of Aragon – Combined classification after Day 1:
1. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1'59.858
2. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - 2'00.072 +0.214
3. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 2'00.320 +0.462
4. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - 2'00.459 +0.601
5. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 2'00.471 +0.613
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - 2'00.482 +0.624
7. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 2'00.585 +0.727
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 2'00.962 +1.104
9. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 2'01.015 +1.157
10. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 2'01.042 +1.184
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 2'01.103 +1.245
12. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 2'01.149 +1.291
13. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 2'01.350 +1.492
14. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 2'01.471 +1.613
15. Mika KALLIO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 2'01.492 +1.634
16. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - 2'01.516 +1.658
17. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 2'01.632 +1.774
18. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 2'01.745 +1.887
19. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - 2'01.810 +1.952
20. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 2'01.917 +2.059
21. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 2'02.077 +2.219
22. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 2'02.392 +2.534
23. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing - 2'02.677 +2.819
24. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - 2'02.935 +3.077