With less than two minutes of FP1 in the books, stand-in for Pol Espargar꧑o, Jonas Folger ran into trouble and was given the black and oꩲrange flag. 

Smoke was coming from the rear of Folger’s Tech 3 GASGAS KTM as loose bodywork s🍨eemed to be rubbing against the rear tyre. 

• LIVE UPDATES: Friday practice from the American MotoG♚P at COTA 
• Jack Miller: ‘Strong points of KTM pla💝y ꧒into’ strengths of COTA

Joining Folger in returning t✤o pit lane early on, was Miguel Oliveira who was making his first appearance since being taken out of the Portuguese Grand Prix by Marc Marquez. 

Continuing his stunning form of the last two roun༒ds, Marquez was the rider to beat ea꧒rly on as he broke into the 2m 4s barrier with ease. 

Marq🍃uez was close to four tenths clear of Jorge Martin before improving for the third consecutive lap. However, that margin was cut to under a tenth when Alex Rins put his LCR Honda into P2. 

Keen to eᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚxtend his advantage once again, Marquez then dropped his time to a 2:04.222s which was three tenths quicker than Rins’ effort. 

Francesco Bagnaia, who lost the championship lead in Argentina after crashing out of the Grand Prix, made it a Ducati 1-2 with 15 minutes gone, although Marquez was still 0.167s clear of the factory ride🍎r. 

Leading KTM’s charge in seventh place with over half the session gone, Jack Miller suff🌳ered a slow crash at the first-gear turn 12. 

Miller got back to his feet immediatel꧑y before look🌄ing back at the corner, bemused by the fall. 

One of the first riders to swi꧙tch to a new rear tyre, Quartararo used the extra performance from the medium compound to go quickest by ౠ0.021s. 

Quartararo then set four red sectors on his very next lap to improve by nearly a tenth of a second, although it wasn’t enough to break under the 2m 4s b𝓡arrier.

Luca Marini was the next rider to struggle going through turn 12, but unlike Miller, the Ducati rider remained aboard his machine althoꦓugh he did run off the circuit. 

Trying to find more time after dro💞pping down to 11th, Miller got it wrong against turn 12 as he slid his RC16 into the left-hander in spectacular fashion which resulted in him running wide. 

After switching to a soft front and rear tyre combination, Maverick Vinales proved to be the rider on🐭 a mission as he went fastest and broke into the 2m 3s bracket. 

Then came a big꧒ moment for Mooney VR46 Ducati with both its riders, albeit for very different reasons as Bezzecchi crashed at turn 12, while Lu🍌ca Marini went on to claim top spot away from Vinales. 

Marini was quickly moved down to second by Quartararo, however, the response fr♔om the Italian was immediate as a stunning fina💧l two sectors saw him blast his way to the top of the leaderboard by over five tenths.

Marquez reduced the gap to three tenths before Quartararo’s final lap ༺saw him c🌃hallenge Marini. But neither rider had an answer as Marini held on.