Ducati Corse’s Andrea Dovizioso ended the opening practice session from the Twin Ring Motegi fastest after a blistering final lap on fresh rubber.
The Italian took Ducati to their first pole position in four years when he took top spot in qualifying back in 2014, and with the Desmosedici GP now a proven race-winner Ducati will have high hopes for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The circuit’s stop-and-go nature plays right into the hands of the GP16, and Dovizioso, a former Grand Prix winner at Motegi, used the bike’s strengths to good effect in the closing seconds of FP1. The Italian went three tenths of a second clear of the field when with a 1m45.786s.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez comes into this weekend with his first chance at wrapping up this year’s world championship. However, the Spaniard is keeping his feet on the ground and says that this race will be about damage limitation, as Motegi isn’t a track that is thought to suit the RC213V.
Despite this, Marquez was still at the sharp-end and ended the session second fastest having sat top of the pile for much of it. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, fresh from testing Lewis Hamilton’s 2014 F1 car at Silverstone, completed the top three ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi.
Dani Pedrosa is the most decorated rider on the grid at Motegi, the Spaniard having won five races at the Japanese circuit since 2002. He ended this morning’s session fifth on the time sheets, with both Suzukis, Cal Crutchlow, Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera completing the top 10.
Barbera takes the place of Andrea Iannone in Japan, the Austria winner still recovering from a T3 vertebra fracture sustained at Misano. Barbera was just over a second off of teammate Dovizioso with a 1m46.853s in his first encounter with the GP16.
Pol Espargaro was 11th at the end of FP1, whilst his Tech 3 teammate Bradley Smith made a welcome return to action. The British rider has been absent since Silverstone after suffering a nasty leg injury at Oschersleben just a week before his home race. After seven weeks away, Smith is looking to just ease himself back into the swing of things this weekend and rebuild his strength on the bike. He was 21st on the time sheets ahead of débutante Mike Jones, who is filling in for Barbera at Avintia.
Loris Baz, on the sister Avintia Ducati, suffered a crash right at the end of the session, as did Crutchlow. Thankfully, the Frenchman and the LCR rider were both unscathed in their incidents.
Comments.
Loading comments…