Practice report
MotoGP Australian GP
Australian MotoGP: Vinales fastest in FP1, Marquez crashes
Maverick Vinales led Jack Miller in opening practice for MotoGP's Australian Grand prix at Phillip Island, as Marc Marquez crashed with five minutes to go.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Oct 27, 2018, 3:18 AM
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Vinales went quickest inside the first half of the session, the Yamaha rider's 1m29.952s proving unbeatable despite a number of improvements in the closing minutes.
His cause was helped significantly by Marquez dropping his Honda on the run into MG corner, having gone quickest in sector two with five minutes to go.
After earlier rain storms and oil slicks, dry conditions returned for the opening session for the premier class.
Times quickly skipped through the 1m31s and into the 1m30s, newly-crowned champion Marquez leading the way with a 1m30.500s before Cal Crutchlow took over with a 1m30.440s on the 15-minute mark.
It was at the point that Marquez had a brief scare at Siberia, barely holding on as his Honda tried to high-side.
Two minutes later Vinales out Yamaha ahead, going quickest with a 1m30.114s before improving to a 1m29.952s on his next lap.
The first proper shunt came with 20 minutes to go, Dani Pedrosa losing the front end of his Honda through the ultra-fast Turn 1. The Spaniard was quickly back on his feet, returning to action for the final quarter of the session.
He wasn't the only rider to have problems at Turn 1; five minutes later Valentino Rossi was forced to stand his Yamaha up and run straight off through the wet grass on the outside of the corner. He managed to keep upright, re-joining on the inside of Southern Loop.
The next rider down was Marquez, who lost the front end of his bike as soon as he hit the brakes coming into MG with five minutes to go. He'd just switched to a soft rear, and was set to go fastest after going quickest through the second sector.
Miller made his own switch to a soft rear for a final run inside the final five minutes, jumping to fourth and then second with a best of 1m29.989s on his Pramac Ducati.
That was as close as anyone got to Vinales' early time, the Yamaha rider left leading a trio of Ducatis led by Miller and followed by fellow late improvers Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso.
Crutchlow (LCR Honda) slipped back to fifth thanks to the late improvements from the Ducatis, while Marquez was left down in sixth.
Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) and Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha) were next, followed by Karel Abraham (Nieto Ducati) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha).
Alvaro Bautista was 14th on debut on Jorge Lorenzo's factory Ducati, the Spaniard's session ending in curious fashion as he was seen pushing the bike back to the pits.
Bautista's replacement at the Nieto team, Mike Jones, was 24th and five seconds off the pace - and a little over a second inside the 107 percent cut-off.
Practice results:
Pos. No. Rider Bike Time Gap 1 25 
Maverick Viñales Yamaha 1'29.952 2 43 
Jack Miller Ducati 1'29.989 0.037 3 9 
Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1'30.027 0.075 4 4 
Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1'30.121 0.169 5 35 
Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'30.266 0.314 6 93 Marc Marquez Honda 1'30.384 0.432 7 29 
Andrea Iannone Suzuki 1'30.418 0.466 8 5 
Johann Zarco Yamaha 1'30.658 0.706 9 17 
Karel Abraham Ducati 1'30.772 0.820 10 46 
Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'30.828 0.876 11 44 Pol Espargaro KTM 1'30.936 0.984 12 55 
Hafizh Syahrin Yamaha 1'30.956 1.004 13 26 
Dani Pedrosa Honda 1'30.984 1.032 14 19 
Alvaro Bautista Ducati 1'31.197 1.245 15 42 Alex Rins Suzuki 1'31.207 1.255 16 30 
Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1'31.339 1.387 17 38 
Bradley Smith KTM 1'31.546 1.594 18 21 
Franco Morbidelli Honda 1'31.670 1.718 19 45 Scott Redding Aprilia 1'31.941 1.989 20 10 
Xavier Simeon Ducati 1'32.013 2.061 21 12 
Thomas Luthi Honda 1'32.024 2.072 22 41 
Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1'32.334 2.382 23 81 
Jordi Torres Ducati 1'32.793 2.841 24 7 
Mike Jones Ducati 1'35.012 5.060
Don't forget to follow @ausmotogp and the #AustralianGP hashtag on Twitter.
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