Crutchlow leads Rins on first day of Thailand test

On MotoGP's first-ever visit to the Buriram circuit - which will play host to the inaugural Thailand Grand Prix later this year - Crutchlow proved the benchmark, setting a 1m30.797s with a little under 40 minutes to go despite suffering a crash earlier in the day.

It was works Honda man Marc Marquez that led the way for the bulk of Friday's running, cementing his position at the top of the timesheets with a 1m30.912s just after midday, and that time wasn't challenged until a flurry of late improvements came in the final hour.

Besides Crutchlow, the only other man to beat Marquez was Rins, who leapt from fourth to second with a time of 1m30.809s aboard the Suzuki.

Andrea Dovizioso, second behind Marquez for much of the day, was fourth on the best of the Ducatis, just a tenth-and-a-half slower than Crutchlow.

The Italian trialled a new type of aerodynamic fairing for the first time, while works teammate Lorenzo - who was 10th fastest - likewise had his own variant to sample.

A late improvement by Dani Pedrosa on the second works Honda made it three Hondas in the top five, ahead of Pramac Ducati pair Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller.

Valentino Rossi was top Yamaha in eighth, 0.392s off the pace, ahead of the second Suzuki of Andrea Iannone and Lorenzo.

Maverick Vinales could do no better than 11th, fractionally ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha man Johann Zarco.

Aleix Espargaro was best of the Aprilias in 15th, while Bradley Smith led the charge for KTM in 20th in the absence of teammate Pol Espargaro.

KTM tester Mika Kallio, deputising for Espargaro, had his day cut short by a major high-side and was taken to the medical centre for checks, finishing up 23rd.

In his first-ever MotoGP outing, Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin - who is in line for Jonas Folger's seat at Tech 3 - was 24th and last, 2.368s off the pace.

Testing times:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Delay
1	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'30.797
2	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'30.809	0.012
3	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'30.912	0.115
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'30.945	0.148
5	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'30.960	0.163
6	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'31.003	0.206
7	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'31.044	0.247
8	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'31.189	0.392
9	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'31.235	0.438
10	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'31.246	0.449
11	25	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	1'31.294	0.497
12	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'31.305	0.508
13	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1'31.523	0.726
14	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'31.525	0.728
15	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'31.662	0.865
16	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	1'31.685	0.888
17	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1'31.692	0.895
18	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'31.698	0.901
19	21	Franco Morbidelli	Honda	1'31.729	0.932
20	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'31.741	0.944
21	12	Thomas Luthi	Honda	1'32.716	1.919
22	10	Xavier Simeon	Ducati	1'32.720	1.923
23	36	Mika Kallio	KTM	1'32.749	1.952
24	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Yamaha	1'33.165	2.368