Phillip Island MotoGP: Lorenzo heads Marquez and Rossi in FP1

Despite a constant light drizzle coating the track from the start of the session, there was plenty of action.

The early pacesetter was Ducati’s Andrea Iannone on 1m31.498s, before Marquez took the top spot on 1m31.038s, ahead of Pol Espargaro’s Tech 3 Yamaha on 1m31.111s. Lorenzo was third at the time on 1m31.216s.

Rossi was down in P15 after his first run, 1.4s off the pace, but immediately improved on his second outing to ninth on 1m31.679s. He then rocketed to P2, behind Marquez, on 1m31.103s on his second lap.

Iannone quickly regained the top spot on 1m30.967s.

Lorenzo, who had temporarily dropped to sixth, then jumped to P1 on 1m30.673s, with Bradley Smith’s Tech 3 Yamaha going second quickest – 0.229s down.

Smith was then beaten by LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, who went P2 on 1m30.900s, before Marquez topped everyone on 1m30.537s.

The reigning champion slightly lowered his best time to 1m30.464s, but was almost instantly beaten by Lorenzo on 1m30.282s.

Honda’s Dani Pedrosa rose to third on 1m30.669s, but Lorenzo and Marquez were holding a private party at the top of the times.

Marquez set 1m30.395s, but it was again Lorenzo – running right behind him – who topped him with 1m30.047s. That would stand as the fastest time of the session.

Pedrosa had looked set for third, ahead of Crutchlow and Rossi, but Rossi surged to third on 1m30.572s. He was 0.525s off Lorenzo’s pace, however.

Jack Miller rose to fifth with an impressive 1m30.712s, to head teammate Crutchlow.

The rain returned with a vengeance in the final five minutes, so there were no more improvements.

Crutchlow, Smith, Iannone, Pol Espargaro and Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) rounded out the top 10.

Pos	Rider	Team	Time	Gap
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	1:30.047	1:30.047
2	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	1:30.395	+0.348
3	Valentino Rossi	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	1:30.572	+0.525
4	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	1:30.669	+0.622
5	Jack Miller	CWM LCR Honda	1:30.712	+0.665
6	Cal Crutchlow	CWM LCR Honda	1:30.782	+0.735
7	Bradley Smith	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:30.902	+0.855
8	Andrea Iannone	Ducati Team	1:30.967	+0.920
9	Pol Espargaro	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:31.111	+1.064
10	Maverick Viñales	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	1:31.240	+1.193
11	Aleix Espargaro	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	1:31.260	+1.213
12	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	1:31.385	+1.338
13	Nicky Hayden	Aspar MotoGP Team	1:31.506	+1.459
14	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Racing	1:31.670	+1.623
15	Mike di Meglio	Avintia Racing	1:31.670	+1.623
16	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	1:31.702	+1.655
17	Scott Redding	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	1:31.772	+1.725
18	Yonny Hernandez	Pramac Racing	1:32.121	+2.074
19	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1:32.173	+2.126
20	Eugene Laverty	Aspar MotoGP Team	1:32.589	+2.542
21	Loris Baz	Athinà Forward Racing	1:32.756	+2.709
22	Toni Elias	Athinà Forward Racing	1:32.959	+2.912
23	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1:33.558	+3.511
24	Anthony West	AB Motoracing	1:33.790	+3.743
25	Damian Cudlin	E-Motion Ioda Racing Project	1:36.091	+6.044