Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez just eased title rival Jorge Lorenzo off the top of the first MotoGP free practice session timesheets at Valencia this morning with his last flying lap to go quickest by just 0.018s at the Spanish circuit.
No surprise there but there was for Bradley Smith as he set the fourth quickest time of the 45-minute period and was just half a second off the pace of his former Moto2 rival and in front of team-mate Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi.
Marquez set a 1'31.557 on his 20th lap of 21 and is already a second underneath the race lap record by set by Casey Stoner back in 2008 while Yamaha's Lorenzo set his 1'31.575 on lap 12 of 19.
MotoGP nearly man Dani Pedrosa is in third and is only 0.006s behind Lorenzo on a 1'31.581 with the top three in a small class of their own ahead of Monster Yamaha's Smith, who lapped in 1'32.086 and is easily the best of the non-factory riders so far.
His time is a tenth faster than nine-time world champion Rossi who stayed ahead of a battle for sixth between Alvaro Bautista and Crutchlow, which the Monster Yamaha man lost by just 0.052s and he has Stefan Bradl for close company, as the German is only 0.067s behind on a 1'32.501 but almost a second off the pace.
Nicky Hayden was the quickest Ducati in ninth but only 0.018s ahead of works team-mate Andrea Dovizioso while Aleix Espargaro, on a brand-new-for-2014 Aprilia was 11th on a 1'32.858 and easily the quickest Open class rider.
If all goes well, Michael Laverty should get that new ART to test on Monday and keep it for the whole of next year when he confirms his deal with Paul Bird for 2014.
