Unlike his teammate, Valentino Rossi started this Australian weekend a little laboriously, still hampered by shoulder pain following his fall in Japan.
He finished the morning in a modest 13th position, almost a second behind the best time achieved by Marc Márquez.
In the afternoon, he stood out from his opponents by starting the session with a medium rear tire, which did not prevent him from entering the top 10 in fifth position during his first run.
However, many riders improved their times at the end of the session, when the Yamaha rider jointly tried a soft rear tire and a new chassis setting which did not bear fruit. As a result, the Doctor is still not in the top 10 at the end of this first day in the dry, while rain could arrive tomorrow.
However, taking into account these adventures and the individual's past, although 12th may seem far away, 7 tenths does not seem a catastrophic gap... provided that it does not rain tomorrow morning, in which case the Doctor should more than likely go through Q1!
Valentino Rossi : “Unfortunately, the position was pretty bad. It was important to try to stay inside the top 10 today, because here at Phillip Island you never know what will happen tomorrow with the weather. But apart from that, we have worked a lot and the feeling with the bike is not too bad. I tried another modification at the end with the softer tire which has the best potential, but unfortunately I didn't like it very much, especially in fast corners, so for that reason I couldn't ride. improve enough to stay inside the top 10. We have a lot to do, and the choice of front and rear tires is still open, so I hope there will be good conditions tomorrow. »
Massimo Meregalli : “It was a completely different first day compared to last weekend, and everything is back to normal. The final results did not fully reflect our true potential. Despite the pain in his right shoulder, Valentino was able to do two good practice sessions. It's a shame that they used the soft tire with settings that weren't quite to Vale's liking, which prevented him from fully exploiting the tire's potential. We aim to continue the solid work of today tomorrow. »
#AustralianGP MotoGP J.1: Chronos
| 1 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'29.225 | ||
| 2 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'29.230 | 0.005 | 0.005 |
| 3 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'29.322 | 0.097 | 0.092 |
| 4 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'29.329 | 0.104 | 0.007 |
| 5 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'29.423 | 0.198 | 0.094 |
| 6 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'29.466 | 0.241 | 0.043 |
| 7 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'29.604 | 0.379 | 0.138 |
| 8 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'29.667 | 0.442 | 0.063 |
| 9 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'29.702 | 0.477 | 0.035 |
| 10 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'29.760 | 0.535 | 0.058 |
| 11 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'29.820 | 0.595 | 0.060 |
| 12 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'29.977 | 0.752 | 0.157 |
| 13 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'29.987 | 0.762 | 0.010 |
| 14 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'30.046 | 0.821 | 0.059 |
| 15 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'30.085 | 0.860 | 0.039 |
| 16 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | 1'30.140 | 0.915 | 0.055 |
| 17 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'30.269 | 1.044 | 0.129 |
| 18 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 1'30.274 | 1.049 | 0.005 |
| 19 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 1'30.546 | 1.321 | 0.272 |
| 20 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | 1'30.682 | 1.457 | 0.136 |
| 21 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'30.777 | 1.552 | 0.095 |
| 22 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'31.688 | 2.463 | 0.911 |
| 23 | 23 | Broc PARKES | Yamaha | 1'32.152 | 2.927 | 0.464 |
