Vinales sees off Quartararo to lead Japanese MotoGP FP1

Full Japanese MotoGP FP1 results

Maverick Vinales leads a Yamaha 1-2-3 at the top of the timesheet in the opening practice at the Japanese MotoGP in the late fast lap attacks with rain threatening the rest of this weekend.

Vinales sees off Quartararo to lead Japanese MotoGP FP1

Full Japanese MotoGP FP1 results

Maverick Vinales leads a Yamaha 1-2-3 at the top of the timesheet in the opening practice at the Japanese MotoGP in the late fast lap attacks with rain threatening the rest of this weekend.

After Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso and Vinales traded leading lap times during the opening runs of FP1, the pace duly sharpened when riders opted for fresh soft tyres targeting a top 10 spot with rain forecast for the rest of practice.

Standout MotoGP rookie Fabio Quartararo looked to have stolen top spot for Petronas Yamaha with his final lap of 1m 45.830s using fresh soft tyres but his joy was short-lived as Vinales responded with his own fast last lap of 1m 45.572s also using new soft rubber with his Monster Yamaha.

With both Vinales and Quartararo charging ahead it shuffled Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli down to third place to cap a strong session for the Iwata factory.

The newly-crowned 2019 MotoGP world champion Marquez acted as best of the rest in fourth place having not opted for a late soft tyre run for Repsol Honda.

Alex Rins used a soft tyre to move up to fifth place directly ahead of Suzuki team-mate Joan Mir which saw Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller in seventh place and Dovizioso shuffled down to eighth place for Ducati.

Pol Espargararo leapt into ninth place on the Red Bull KTM with his own late soft tyre laps as Cal Crutchlow rounded out the top 10 and the provisional Q2 spots on the LCR Honda.

Aleix Espargararo duly just missed out in 11th place for Aprilia but was ahead of nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi who did not run a soft tyre towards the end of the session with his Monster Yamaha.

With Danilo Petrucci in 13th for Ducati, Andrea Iannone surged up to 14th place late on for Aprilia to beat Takaaki Nakagami in 15th place for LCR Honda on his final outing of the season before shoulder surgery which will see Johann Zarco replace him for the remainder of the year.

Mika Kallio found some useful gains after a tough pair of races for Red Bull KTM with 16th place in FP1 ahead of Tech3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.

With Karel Abraham in 18th place on the Avintia Ducati it saw Jorge Lorenzo’s struggles for Repsol Honda continue down in 19th place. Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati), Suzuki wildcard Sylvain Guintoli, Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati) and Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3 KTM) rounded out the timesheet for FP1.

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