Practice report

Motegi MotoGP: Vinales leads Yamaha 1-2-3 in FP1

Maverick Vinales set the pace in the opening practice for MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, leading Yamaha stablemate Fabio Quartararo by a quarter of a second.

Factory Yamaha man Vinales posted a lap of 1m45.572s at the very end of the 45-minute Friday morning session to lead Petronas rider Quartararo by 0.258s, with Franco Morbidelli a further 0.153s behind his teammate.

Vinales first hit the top of the times when he posted a 1m46.244s effort with 19 minutes to go, although that was soon beaten by newly-crowned six-time premier class champion Marc Marquez's best time of 1m46.035s aboard the Honda.

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Marquez's benchmark stood until the final few minutes, as first Morbidelli broke the 1m46s barrier to record a 1m45.983s, which was soon beaten by a 1m45.987s from Vinales.

Quartararo briefly went quickest on a 1m45.830s once the chequered flag fell but that was then surpassed by Vinales' 1m45.572s.

Marquez didn't improve in the final stages but remained fourth, just under half a second off the pace, while Suzuki riders Alex Rins and Joan Mir were next up in fifth and sixth.

Top Ducati honours went to Jack Miller on the Pramac-run GP19, the Australian rider edging works rider Andrea Dovizioso by just 0.009s to take seventh.

Pol Espargaro (KTM) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) completed the top 10.

Valentino Rossi ended up slowest of the Yamahas, 0.848s off the pace of Vinales in 12th, although the Italian notably did not equip a new tyre for his final runs.

Danilo Petrucci was one place behind on the second works Ducati.

Jorge Lorenzo's Honda struggles continued as he finished the session down in 19th, 1.8s off the pace and four places behind the year-old LCR bike of Takaaki Nakagami.

Suzuki wildcard Sylvain Guintoli - the only additional entry for the Japanese GP weekend - was 21st, a little over two seconds off the pace on the third GSX-RR.

Session results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	01'45.572
2	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	01'45.830	00.258
3	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	01'45.983	00.411
4	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	01'46.035	00.463
5	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	01'46.065	00.493
6	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	01'46.125	00.553
7	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	01'46.197	00.625
8	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	01'46.206	00.634
9	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	01'46.215	00.643
10	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	01'46.289	00.717
11	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	01'46.414	00.842
12	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	01'46.420	00.848
13	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	01'46.535	00.963
14	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	01'46.745	01.173
15	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	01'46.763	01.191
16	82	Mika Kallio	KTM	01'46.898	01.326
17	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	01'46.942	01.370
18	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	01'47.327	01.755
19	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	01'47.438	01.866
20	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	01'47.496	01.924
21	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Suzuki	01'47.753	02.181
22	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	01'48.097	02.525
23	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	01'48.358	02.786
View full results