It was in 1'29.872 that Marc Marquez took first place, 1.18 ahead of Maverick Vinales, preceding Cal Crutchlow by 0.342 and Dani Pedrosa by 0.408. The Hondas were therefore in a good position, while Andrea Dovizioso brought the best-placed Ducati to fifth position at 0.53. Valentino Rossi was then tenth, Johann Zarco seventeenth and Loris Baz twentieth.
Michelin offered two front and two rear tires to test on this first day, the two rears (a medium and a hard) being those available for the 2016 Australian Grand Prix. The two fronts were a soft and a medium, with the same construction and the same rubber as those offered during the recent Sepang tests. New and different tires will be offered on Thursday and Friday.
Jorge Lorenzo had two different Ducatis, one with the box under the saddle, but not the other. Suzuki used to Andrea Iannone et alex rins their GSX-RR in 2017 configuration, after having made comparisons with the 2016 at Sepang. The goal on this first day was to validate the equipment defined at Sepang, before trying new parts tomorrow.
About an hour before mid-session, Álvaro Bautista et Sam Lowes fell without gravity in turn 6, which caused an interruption of the session to solidify the tire wall. Scott Redding also fell, without damage.
Mid-day results
Reference times:
Test record: 1'27.899 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) on October 5, 2013
Lap record: 1'28.108 by Marc Marquez (Honda) on October 6, 2013
Best top speed: 348,0 km/h by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in 2015 (FP3)
