Phillip Island MotoGP FP1: Crutchlow, Rossi and Petrucci in the rain

A sunset worthy of a postcard was followed this morning by a completely different panorama: 14° in the air and on the track, sticky skies, wind that would chill a penguin and rain now very present. Welcome to Phillip Island!

One of the particularities of this circuit is that none of its records date from last year, and this has nothing to do with the resurfacing of the track which took place in December 2012. This is rather to the weather conditions and those of today are obviously not conducive to anything in this area on this circuit which, in the dry, saw the domination of Marc Marquez last year, despite strong opposition from Jorge Lorenzo.

The replacements are named Nicky Hayden for Dani Pedrosa at Honda, Hector Barbera for Andrea Iannone at Ducati, and Mike Jones for Hector Barbera at Avintia.

Here are references available :

Phillip Island MotoGP	2015	2016
FP1	1'30.047 Jorge Lorenzo
FP2	1'29.383 Marc Marquez
FP3	1'29.081 Marc Marquez
FP4	1'29.245 Marc Marquez
Q1	1'29.647 Pol Espargaro
Q2	1'28.364 Marc Marquez
WUP	1'29.344 Marc Marquez
Course	Marquez, Lorenzo, Iannone
All time lap record	1'27.899 Jorge Lorenzo 2013

 

When the red lights go out, alone Loris Baz, Maverick Vinales, Bradley Smith and Jorge Lorenzo prefer to stay in the box.

After a few laps to get the feel of the track, Jack Miller leads the provisional ranking in 1'44.060 ahead Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding, While Lorenzo and Vinales take the trail.

After 10 minutes, the pace picks up again and the names parade to replace that of the Australian driver; Marc Marquez, Danilo Petrucci (who lost a wing), Valentino Rossi, then Cal Crutchlow in 1'40.957 before returning to the box.

At this moment, that is to say halfway through the session, the Top 5 is made up of Crutchlow, Rossi, Petrucci, Marquez and Vinales while we find a surprising Jones 11th, then Lorenzo 19e.

Most pilots then decide not to leave immediately, which allows them to Jack Miller and Andrea Dovizioso to improve their times almost alone on the track; 3rd for the Australian, 6th for the Italian!

12 minutes from the checkered flag, Valentino Rossi is one of the first to get back on the track, after putting on latex gloves under leather ones.

Jorge Lorenzo, still 19th, leaves with his second bike and Mario Meregalli confides that it is equipped with different settings so that the Mallorcan driver can find a certain feeling.

Most of the drivers return to the box 5 minutes before the end of the session and decide to leave it there for this morning. Alone Smith, Jones and Barbera continue to the end, which will not change the ranking.

Ranking compiled by our friends at crash.net

1. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m 40.957s [Lap 8/8] 300km/h (Top Speed)
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 40.998s +0.041s [10/14] 308km/h
3. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 41.010s +0.053s [10/16] 310km/h
4. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 41.457s +0.500s [10/12] 315km/h
5. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 41.511s +0.554s [8/13] 301km/h
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP) 1m 41.569s +0.612s [11/13] 315km/h
7. Maverick Vinales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 41.813s +0.856s [7/10] 317km/h
8. Espargaro Pol ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 42.465s +1.508s [13/15] 312km/h
9. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 42.956s +1.999s [9/15] 295km/h
10. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 43.012s +2.055s [14/15] 304km/h
11. Stefan bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 43.070s +2.113s [7/12] 290km/h
12. Yonny Hernandez COL Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP14.2) 1m 43.132s +2.175s [8/16] 292km/h
13. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 43.314s +2.357s [11/13] 287km/h
14. Mike Jones AUS Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 1m 43.483s +2.526s [7/16] 289km/h
15. Loris Baz FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 1m 44.176s +3.219s [7/10] 291km/h
16. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)* 1m 44.178s +3.221s [11/17] 297km/h
17. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP14.2) 1m 44.181s +3.224s [7/13] 292km/h
18. Alex Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 44.551s +3.594s [9/14] 301km/h
19. Hector Barbera ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP) 1m 44.792s +3.835s [7/19] 304km/h
20. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 45.651s +4.694s [5/9] 287km/h
Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 49.008s +8.051s [7/7] 264km/h