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Phillip Island MotoGP practice: Vinales leads Miller, Marquez falls

Maverick Vinales led Jack Miller in opening practice for MotoGP's Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, while champion Marc Marquez crashed late on

Vinales went quickest inside the first half of the session, the Yamaha rider's 1m29.952s proving unbeatable despite a number of improvements in the closing minutes.

His cause was helped significantly by Marquez dropping his Honda on the run into MG, having gone quickest in sector two with five minutes to go.

After earlier rain storms and oil slicks, dry conditions returned for the opening session for the premier class.

Times quickly skipped through the 1m31s and into the 1m30s, newly-crowned 2018 world champion Marquez leading the way with a 1m30.500s before Cal Crutchlow took over with a 1m30.440s on the 15-minute mark.

It was at the point that Marquez had a brief scare at Siberia, barely holding on as his Honda tried to high-side.

Two minutes later Vinales out Yamaha ahead, going quickest with a 1m30.114s before improving to a 1m29.952s on his next lap.

The first proper shunt came with 20 minutes to go, Dani Pedrosa losing the front end of his Honda through the ultra-fast Turn 1. He was quickly back on his feet, returning to action for the final quarter of the session.

He wasn't the only rider to have problems at Turn 1; five minutes later Valentino Rossi was forced to stand his Yamaha up and run straight off through the wet grass on the outside of the corner. He managed to keep upright, rejoining on the inside of Southern Loop.

The next rider down was Marquez, who lost the front end of his bike as soon as he hit the brakes coming into MG with five minutes to go.

He had just switched to a soft rear tyre, and was set to go fastest after going quickest through the second sector.

Pramac rider Miller made his own switch to a soft rear for a final run inside the final five minutes, jumping to fourth and then second with a best of 1m29.989s.

And that was as close as anyone got to Vinales' early time, the Yamaha rider left leading a quartet of Ducatis led by Miller and followed by fellow late improvers Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso.

Crutchlow slipped back to fifth thanks to the late improvements from the Ducatis, while Marquez was left down in sixth.

Andrea Iannone and Johann Zarco were next, followed by Karel Abraham and Valentino Rossi.

Alvaro Bautista was 14th on his debut on the injured Jorge Lorenzo's factory Ducati, but ended the session pushing his bike back to the pits after an unknown problem.

FP1 times

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m29.952s - 23
2 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m29.989s 0.037s 19
3 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m30.027s 0.075s 20
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m30.121s 0.169s 20
5 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m30.266s 0.314s 21
6 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m30.384s 0.432s 16
7 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 1m30.418s 0.466s 19
8 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m30.658s 0.706s 21
9 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m30.772s 0.820s 20
10 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m30.828s 0.876s 19
11 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m30.936s 0.984s 20
12 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m30.956s 1.004s 20
13 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m30.984s 1.032s 18
14 Alvaro Bautista Ducati Ducati 1m31.197s 1.245s 19
15 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m31.207s 1.255s 23
16 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m31.339s 1.387s 22
17 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1m31.546s 1.594s 15
18 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 1m31.670s 1.718s 22
19 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 1m31.941s 1.989s 15
20 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m32.013s 2.061s 18
21 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 1m32.024s 2.072s 21
22 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m32.334s 2.382s 18
23 Jordi Torres Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m32.793s 2.841s 19
24 Mike Jones Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m35.012s 5.060s 22


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