Phillip Island Test: Petrucci leads on rain hit day one

Rain disrupted the first day of the MotoGP test at Phillip Island, leaving riders with only an hour of dry track time, with Danilo Petrucci taking advantage of the short time on track by setting the fastest time of 1:31.764.

Rain really affected play, and it was a while until Dani Pedrosa was the first rider to head out on the wet Michelin tyres, closely followed by fellow Honda riders Cal Crutchlow and rookie Tito Rabat.

As expected, the Repsol Honda riders both had the new 2016 ‘Evo’ engine, with the satellite riders only receiving the 2015 version and the 2016 edition tested at Valencia, an engine disliked by the factory riders.

The weather meant many simply stayed in their garage for the entire session. In terms of wet testing, Jorge Lorenzo completed the most laps of the Phillip Island circuit, lapping the track twenty-two times. As the rain eased off, Marc Marquez was able to use the new intermediate tyre and lapped a 1’35.354 and led the session quite a long time.

The rain eased off with under two hours remaining. The Pramac Yakhnich riders took advantage and set off on slick Michelin tyres to lead the session. The rain did come back on and off, leading to a 20 minute dry period at the end of the session.

Bradley Smith and Maverick Vinales took advantage and ended the session in second and third place respectively. The pair were still a second off Petrucci’s time, however, and over two seconds behind Marc Marquez’s fastest lap of 2015. Petrucci’s teammate Scott Redding was fourth, after completing over forty-one laps, the most of any rider in the session.

Cal Crutchlow managed a 1:32.948 in the final twenty minutes after missing out on the first dry period, leading to the British rider finishing fifth. Valentino Rossi was sixth whereas Pol Espagaro managed a seventh placed finish.

Other highlights of the session include the return of Jack Miller. The Australian rode his new Marc VDS Honda for the first time since breaking his leg in the offseason. The youngster managed a ninth-placed finish in the end.