By alley - Mar 20, 2014, 2:30 PM ET

MotoGP: Espargaro tops first practice session

Aleix Espargaro continued his storming start to 2014 by topping the first practice session of the year in Qatar.

The Spaniard, riding Forward's Open class Yamaha, dominated the early part of the session and then surged clear once more as times improved in the final minutes.

His final effort, a 1m55.633s, put him almost half a second clear of a chasing pack led by satellite Factory riders Alvaro Bautista, Bradley Smith, Andrea Iannone and the pacesetter's brother Pol.

The younger Espargaro, riding just two weeks after

breaking his collarbone

in testing at the Losail track, was the final rider to get within one second of the pace.

The factory riders never came close to hitting the front. Defending champion Marc Marquez, riding in his first session since breaking his leg last month - and without painkillers - made a quiet start and wound up 11th overall, 1.5s off the pace.

Jorge Lorenzo's tyre concerns returned with a vengeance, with the two-time champion visibly upset with the traction of his Yamaha. He was just two spots ahead of Marquez, and only 14 thousandths of a second faster.

Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi also struggled to make an impact, coming home sixth and seventh respectively, over one second down on the elder Espargaro.

Ducati pair Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso occupied 14th and 15th at the flag.

Satellite stablemate Yonny Hernandez caused the session's only incident when he crashed heavily at Turn 16.

The session was briefly halted to clean the track, while Hernandez was taken to the medical centre for X-rays on his right shoulder.

Originally on Autosport.com