Japanese Grand Prix Motegi MotoGP Warm Up: Andrea Dovizioso shows his strength in front of Marc Marquez!

Will Marc Márquez be titled in Japan? Will Andrea Dovizioso repeat his victory from last year? What will Johann Zarco, Jack Miller, Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Iannone be able to do in the middle of this high-tension duel? Will the official Yamahas be able to be even faster in the race than in qualifying?

Here are some of the questions to which this 20-minute MotoGP warm-up will perhaps provide some answers before the Japanese Grand Prix which begins in Motegi at 7 a.m. French time.

The conditions are excellent with magnificent sunshine and temperatures of 17° and 26° on the ground.

Here are the available chronometric references:

Motegi MotoGP™	2017	2018
FP1	1'55.418 Marc Marquez (see here)	1'45.358 Andrea Dovizioso
FP2	1'54.877 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)	1'48.136 Dani Pedrosa
FP3	1'55.254 Marc Marquez (see here)	1'45.107 Andrea Dovizioso
FP4	1'54.581 Marc Marquez (see here)	1'45.531 Marc Marquez
Qualification 1	1'55.258 Pol Espargaro (see here)	1'45.429 Alvaro Bautista
Qualification 2	1'53.469 Johann Zarco (see here)	1'44.590 Andrea Dovizioso
Warm Up	1'56.719 Marc Marquez (see here)	1'45.409 Andrea Dovizioso
Course	Marquez, Dovizioso, Petrucci (see here)
All time lap record	1'43.790 Jorge Lorenzo 2015

When the red lights go out, it's for once Cal Crutchlow who sets off first, while certain pilots, including Andrea Dovizioso, do not complete their first lap before returning to the box to change machines: a normal procedure intended to check that the 2 motorcycles are operational.

In terms of tires, no one is using hard tires this morning.

Andrea Iannone achieves the fastest first flying lap in 1'47.928, a position he maintains for the next 3 laps in front Andrea Dovizioso

At mid-session, the hierarchy is made up of Andrea Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso, Alex Rins already at 5/10, Valentino Rossi, Danilo Petrucci, Álvaro Bautista, Bradley Smith, Johann Zarco, Cal Crutchlow and Marc Márquez.

Alex Espargaro fall at turn number 7, just before Andrea Dovizioso takes command in 1'45.724 ahead Cal Crutchlow and Marc Marquez.

There is a big gap between the first 5 who are within 2 tenths and the 6th, Maverick Vinales which is already at 7 tenths.

Karel Abraham minor fall at turn #1.

2 minutes from the checkered flag, Andrea Dovizioso improves further in 1'45.409, relegating all of his opponents to at least 4 tenths.

Marc Márquez takes advantage of the last minute to climb into second position, although almost 3 tenths behind his main opponent who keeps him in his sights on the circuit...

Undeniably, Andrea Dovizioso took the lead this morning, not only in terms of time, but especially in the number of laps in 1'45 completed: 5 against only 3 for Marc Marquez, 2 for Cal Crutchlow and for 1 Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins...

Japanese Grand Prix Motegi MotoGP Warm up ranking:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com