Rossi tops first practice at Misano

Yamaha's Valentino Rossi topped Friday's first free practice session for the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, as five riders suffered crashes.

Rossi held top spot heading into the final few minutes and lowered the benchmark again to 1:33.451 after the checkered flag had dropped.

Pol Espargaro finished 0.136s adrift on his satellite Yamaha M1 (Tech 3), with Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales a similar margin further back.

Marc Márquez followed in fourth, despite a half-fall at Turn 10, during which he held on to his bike, and rejoined with help from the marshals.

Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa were fifth and sixth on the other works Yamaha and Honda machines, with Andrea Dovizioso the fastest of the factory Ducati riders.

Dovizioso's team-mate, Andrea Iannone, finished in 18th, after falling at Turn 12 early in the session, which prompted a trip to the medical centre for precautionary x-rays.

Avintia's Hector Barberá placed eighth, as Cal Crutchlow (LCR) and Scott Redding (Pramac) completed the top 10, the latter stopping on track late on amid plumes of smoke.

In an ultra-close session, less than a second covered the top 15.

Aspar's Eugene Laverty, Marc VDS' Tito Rabat and Pramac's Danilo Petrucci were the others to crash over 45 minutes, with all three walking away from their damaged bikes.

Results