Assen MotoGP: Iannone leads Ducati 1-2 in first practice

Iannone - who starts this weekend's race from the back of the grid after his collision with Jorge Lorenzo in Barcelona - was in control for much of the session, becoming the first rider to beneath the 1m35 to lead the way after the first runs on a 1m34.939s on a slightly damp track.

The Italian was briefly toppled by Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales, who set a 1m34.773s just beyond the halfway point of the session, but Iannone soon retook control of the timesheets with a 1m34.655s.

And amid a late flurry of improvements that saw Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci briefly annex the top spot, Iannone registered a further improvement to end the session with a best time of 1m34.349s, just 0.012s shy of the equivalent FP1 benchmark from last season.

Dovizioso and Pol Espargaro (Tech 3 Yamaha) both jumped to second and third moments after Iannone set his best time, ending up 0.226s and 0.300s off the pace respectively.

Just 0.011s behind Espargaro, Pramac teammates Petrucci and Scott Redding ended up on identical times in fourth and fifth places, making it four Ducati riders in the top five.

Jorge Lorenzo was best of the the Yamaha contingent in sixth places, 0.373s off the pace, narrowly ahead of factory teammate Valentino Rossi, who ended 0.409s down on compatriot Iannone.

Vinales found himself shuffled down to eighth in the closing stages, ahead of Bradley Smith on the second Tech 3 Yamaha and another satellite Ducati rider, Hector Barbera.

It was a miserable session for Honda, which failed to get any of its riders inside the top 10. Marc Marquez was closest to doing so, finishing just 0.018s behind Barbera in 11th place.

LCR rider Cal Crutchlow and the second Repsol machine of Dani Pedrosa were just behind, the top 13 all being split by less than a second.

First practice results:

Pos	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	29	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	1'34.349
2	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'34.575	0.226
3	44	Pol Espargaro	Yamaha	1'34.649	0.300
4	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'34.660	0.311
5	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'34.660	0.311
6	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	1'34.722	0.373
7	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'34.758	0.409
8	25	Maverick Viñales	Suzuki	1'34.759	0.410
9	38	Bradley Smith	Yamaha	1'34.918	0.569
10	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'34.954	0.605
11	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'34.972	0.623
12	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'35.026	0.677
13	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'35.294	0.945
14	41	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	1'35.365	1.016
15	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1'35.530	1.181
16	68	Yonny Hernandez	Ducati	1'35.672	1.323
17	50	Eugene Laverty	Ducati	1'35.989	1.640
18	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1'36.019	1.670
19	19	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia	1'36.188	1.839
20	6	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia	1'36.284	1.935
21	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1'37.850	3.501