The last race weekend of the season is off to an eventful start as Takaaki Nakagami topped MotoGP Free Practice 1 ahead of Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez.
The Japanese rider, in his last FP1 session as a full-time rider was the only one out on frash rubber in the late stages of the session after going down in Turn 2 earlier.
Nakagami was not the first rider to tumble through the gravel on Friday morning. Just four minutes into the weekend, Fabio Di Giannantonion replacement Michele Pirro found himself on the ground after losing the front in Turn 5.
Just minutes after, the session was red-flagged as teammates Acosta and Fernandez came together in a massive crash that both riders escaped uninjured.
Fernandez had taken the outside line through Turn 5 and, as Acosta exited the corner getting pushed to the outside collided with his teammate.
World Champion Francesco Bagnaia had a rough start to the weekend. After a botched practice start attempt, the Italian rolled off down the main straight when Maverick Vinales, at relatively high speed, cut across the front.
Bagnaia fearing he would collide with the Spaniard tapped the front brakes and immediately lost control over his bike hitting the ground hard and sliding into the run-off at Turn 1.
