Andrea Iannone ended the first MotoGP practice session ahead of the season finale in Valencia fastest on the Suzuki ahead of Jack Miller, while title rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez were fourth and fifth.
Marquez comes into this final round of the 2017 season 21 points clear of title rival Dovizioso and just needs to finish inside the top 11 to secure a fourth premier class crown, while Dovizioso must win and hope the Honda rider is 12th or lower.
A double winner at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit across the Moto2 and MotoGP class, Marquez wasted no time in the early part of a cool first practice and shot to the top of the timesheets with a 1m32.219s.
The Spaniard subsequently lowered his benchmark to a 1m31.692s to go six tenths of a second clear of the field after the first 10 minutes, though this advantage was cut to just over a tenth by Tech3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco five minutes later.
Miller – who briefly set the pace in the opening minutes of first practice – took over from Honda stablemate Marquez at the top of the standings with nine minutes remaining with a 1m31.486s, and improved on the following tour to a 1m31.357s.
The Australian’s session came to a brief pause when he fell at the Angel Nieto corner, though was able to get back out on his second Marc VDS RC213V and ended the session second.
Fitted with a fresh soft rear tyre, Iannone began to light up the timing screens in the closing stages and went top on his GSX-RR with a 1m31.083s, improving further on his final lap to a 1m31.045s to go three tenths clear of the field.
KTM’s Pol Espargaro jumped up to third after a late charge on the soft tyre ahead of Dovizioso, while Marquez completed the top five having spent the entirety of the session on the same soft front, medium rear combination he started the morning on.
Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales improved to sixth in the final minutes, though some seven tenths off the pace, while team-mate Valentino Rossi was a lowly 18th on the sister factory M1.
Mika Kallio – who gave KTM its MotoGP debut as a factory entrant at Valencia one year ago – returns for his fourth wildcard appearance this season and was ninth at the chequered flag. Zarco and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow slotted in ahead of the Finn, while Dani Pedrosa completed the top 10.
Michele Pirro joins Kallio as a wildcard this weekend, the Ducati test rider making his third start in 2017. The Italian ended the morning 11th, with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo 0.001s further behind in 12.
Yamaha World Superbike rider Michael van der Mark is back in place of Jonas Folger – who has been diagnosed with Gilbert Syndrome – at Tech3, and completed the 25-rider field in first practice.
