The technical boss of Ducati Gigi Dall'Igna had warned: its Desmosedici would finally perform well on the Phillip Island route for the Australian Grand Prix. A justice of the peace who seems to deliver a favorable sentence to the red motorcycle since two GP18s are in the leading square, with Petrucci second and Dovizioso fourth. The latter declares himself satisfied. But nevertheless not yet completely reassured…
Ducati has four successes at Phillip Island in MotoGP. So many achievements conquered by the local hero Casey Stoner from 2007 to 2010. Since the departure of the Australian phenomenon, the form of Borgo Panigale had to be content with a third place, taken in 2015 by Andrea Iannone.
Un Iannone now on a Suzuki which did not escape the vigilance of DesmoDovi: “ Iannone goes very fast » commented his ex teammate. “ It's even very, very fast, even this morning ". On his fate, he comments: “ we managed to do some of the work we wanted to do. Overall, times are good, I'm happy. Let's say we are with the fastest. The bike is more stable. Compared to last year we are a little faster ».
However… " We still struggle at the apex of the turn, but we can't eliminate that. I think we're losing a little less, so it's not bad. We must continue to improve because what we have at the moment is not enough. Many can play for victory here, it's always a bit special. We will see tomorrow what conditions we find and if we can progress. I'm happy, but it's not enough ».
His occasional teammate Alvaro Bautista is fifteenth with the second official Ducati.
Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island, MotoGP, J.1: times
| 1 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'29.131 | ||
| 2 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'29.291 | 0.160 | 0.160 |
| 3 | 25 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha | 1'29.354 | 0.223 | 0.063 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'29.406 | 0.275 | 0.052 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'29.616 | 0.485 | 0.210 |
| 6 | 5 | Johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'29.686 | 0.555 | 0.070 |
| 7 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'29.739 | 0.608 | 0.053 |
| 8 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'29.838 | 0.707 | 0.099 |
| 9 | 42 | alex rins | Suzuki | 1'29.918 | 0.787 | 0.080 |
| 10 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'30.133 | 1.002 | 0.215 |
| 11 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'30.179 | 1.048 | 0.046 |
| 12 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 1'30.346 | 1.215 | 0.167 |
| 13 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'30.472 | 1.341 | 0.126 |
| 14 | 44 | Espargaro Pol | KTM | 1'30.545 | 1.414 | 0.073 |
| 15 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 1'30.734 | 1.603 | 0.189 |
| 16 | 41 | Alex Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'30.736 | 1.605 | 0.002 |
| 17 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Honda | 1'30.787 | 1.656 | 0.051 |
| 18 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1'30.830 | 1.699 | 0.043 |
| 19 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati | 1'31.166 | 2.035 | 0.336 |
| 20 | 10 | Xavier Simeon | Ducati | 1'31.275 | 2.144 | 0.109 |
| 21 | 12 | Thomas luthi | Honda | 1'31.539 | 2.408 | 0.264 |
| 22 | 81 | Jordi Torres | Ducati | 1'31.570 | 2.439 | 0.031 |
| 23 | 45 | Scott Redding | Aprilia | 1'32.045 | 2.914 | 0.475 |
| 24 | 7 | Mike Jones | Ducati | 1'33.633 | 4.502 | 1.588 |
