Jack Miller led the way in the opening practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix, the Aussie mastering a drying track on slicks to score the scratch time.
The field headed out onto the Red Bull Ring on wet tyres in the early stages as the track remained wet following an early morning shower, the Austrian venue’s new chicane installed between Turn 1 and what was Turn 3 taking the attention as the riders tried to acclimatise themselves.
Suzuki’s Joan Mir and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira shared the fastest times in the wet portion of the test before the track began to dry, Oliveira firing in a 1:38.035s on his wet rubber before the switch to slicks started to occur with around 15-minutes remaining of the outing.
Johann Zarco immediately posted a 1:36.916s on the dry rubber before the times fell steeply over the remaining part of the session, with Oliveira and later Miller trading fastest times until the factory Ducati rider eventually came out on top with a 1:30.756s.
Zarco ended up second quickest – although a full 0.618s adrift of his fellow Ducati pilot – with Mir third overall.
Jorge Martin was fourth on the second Pramac entry ahead of series leader Fabio Quartararo, the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro ending the test sixth.
Alex Rins was seventh on the sister Suzuki just clear of KTM’s Brad Binder, with LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini rounding off the top ten.
Maverick Vinales survived a late run-off at Turn 4 to clock in the 12th best effort ahead of fastest rookie Marco Bezzecchi, while Oliveira failed to improve in the dying moments as he slipped all the way to 14th in the final order.
Francesco Bagnaia – who arrives in Austria off the back of two successive victories – ended up 17th and 1.757s away from his team-mate, the Italian just clear of Stefan Bradl who edged Honda team-mate Pol Espargaro – the duo 18th and 20th respectively.
Reigning Moto2 world champion Remy Gardner suffered an awkward crash at Turn 4 as he seemingly high-sided on entry to the bend, the Tech 3 KTM racer closing out the session at the foot of the times in 25th.
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