Maverick Vinales led first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi with a late storming time that put him 0.258 faster than Fabio Quartararo.
With much of the remaining track time this weekend looking to be rain affected, many of the riders bolted on fresh Michelin rubber towards the end of the session to lock themselves in to a Q2 spot in tomorrow’s qualifying.
Vinales looked strong throughout, despite a mechanical issue with his number one bike mid-way through the session.
He pulled his sick sounding M1 into the pits after shortly after setting the session best second sector time, transferring onto his second machine for the remainder of the test.
He immediately put things right by relegating then leader Andrea Dovizioso to second with a 1:46.244, before being pushed back himself by Marc Marquez’s 1:46.035 tour.
The session looked to belong to Quartararo though as he posted a 1:45.897 in the closing seconds, although Vinales quickly hit back with his final effort to top the session by 0.258 with a 1:45.572.
Franco Morbidelli made it a Yamaha 1-2-3 on the second of the Petronas SRT bike’s-just 0.411 behind-ahead of Marquez in fourth.
Alex Rins and Joan Mir showed well for Suzuki with fifth and sixth, while Jack Miller ultimately managed the quickest time of the Ducati brigade in seventh.
Dovizioso eventually faded to eighth by the chequred flag, as Pol Espargaro impressed with ninth for KTM ahead of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow who rounded out the top ten.
Valentino Rossi-unlike his fellow Yamaha men- struggled throughout FP1, eventually taking only the 12th fastest time just behind the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro-albeit of the also downtrodden second factory Ducati of Danilo Petrucci in 13th.
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