Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia
Practice report

Motegi MotoGP: Marquez leads delayed morning warm-up

Marc Marquez led the way in a shortened and delayed wet morning warm-up session for MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The warm-up sessions for all three classes were delayed when Moto3 rider Andrea Migno left a significant amount of oil on the track during the opening session of the morning.

That meant MotoGP warm-up, originally scheduled to begin at 0940 local time, did not begin until 1115, and was shortened from the usual 20 minutes to 15.

Setting the quickest time was works Honda rider Marquez, on a 1m56.719s, to go a little over four tenths clear of second-place man Aleix Espargaro aboard the Aprilia.

A late improvement put Suzuki man Alex Rins third, ahead of Ducati GP17 trio Jorge Lorenzo, Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso.

Poleman Johann Zarco could no better than 14th on the Tech 3 Yamaha, two places behind lead works rider Valentino Rossi and a place ahead of Maverick Vinales on the second Movistar-backed machine.

Dani Pedrosa struggled to 19th-fastest on the second of the Repsol Hondas.

Tyre restrictions for the race

As a safety precaution, Michelin has ruled that all riders must use the medium wet front tyre for the race, the hardest of the two available compounds.

Riders will be free to use either the soft or extra-soft wet rear tyre.

Despite the delay to the schedule, the MotoGP race is set to begin as scheduled at 1400 local time, and will be run over the full distance of 24 laps.

Moto3 will begin at 1155, run over a reduced distance of 13 laps, while the Moto2 race will start at 1300 and run for 15 laps.

Warm-up results:

Pos.#RiderBikeTimeGap
1 93 spain Marc Marquez  Honda 1'56.719  
2 41 spain Aleix Espargaro  Aprilia 1'57.125 0.406
3 42 spain Alex Rins  Suzuki 1'57.215 0.496
4 99 spain Jorge Lorenzo  Ducati 1'57.303 0.584
5 9 italy Danilo Petrucci  Ducati 1'57.435 0.716
6 4 italy Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati 1'57.473 0.754
7 35 united_kingdom Cal Crutchlow  Honda 1'57.493 0.774
8 29 italy Andrea Iannone  Suzuki 1'57.554 0.835
9 31 japan Kohta Nozane  Yamaha 1'58.023 1.304
10 44 spain Pol Espargaro  KTM 1'58.115 1.396
11 76 france Loris Baz  Ducati 1'58.141 1.422
12 46 italy Valentino Rossi  Yamaha 1'58.364 1.645
13 22 united_kingdom Sam Lowes  Aprilia 1'58.382 1.663
14 5 france Johann Zarco  Yamaha 1'58.424 1.705
15 25 spain Maverick Viñales  Yamaha 1'58.451 1.732
16 21 japan Katsuyuki Nakasuga  Yamaha 1'58.708 1.989
17 8 spain Hector Barbera  Ducati 1'58.723 2.004
18 53 spain Tito Rabat  Honda 1'58.943 2.224
19 26 spain Dani Pedrosa  Honda 1'58.959 2.240
20 7 japan Hiroshi Aoyama  Honda 1'58.999 2.280
21 38 united_kingdom Bradley Smith  KTM 1'59.515 2.796
22 19 spain Alvaro Bautista  Ducati 2'00.200 3.481
23 17 czech_republic Karel Abraham  Ducati 2'00.356 3.637
24 45 united_kingdom Scott Redding  Ducati 2'01.902 5.183

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article "Pissed off" Crutchlow "can't ride" Honda in rain
Next article Motegi MotoGP: Dovizioso snatches last-lap victory from Marquez

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia