Valentino Rossi had a late surge to top the timing sheets during the first practice session of the weekend in Barcelona.
The Italian spent the majority of the session further down the timing sheets as he and the majority of the field completed a lot of laps on used tyres to try and work out the newly laid surface at the Circuit de Catalunya, but a late run on soft tyres saw the nine-times World Champion end the session fastest with a lap time of 1:39.456.
The factory Ducati duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo were second and third respectively on the GP18’s. Both Ducati riders did use new rubber at the end of the session although both went with the harder compound Michelin.
Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez was fourth fastest. The Spaniard led for the majority of the session however late laps on new tyres saw him fall further behind. Despite some typically hairy Marquez moments, the World Champion didn’t look upset to be fourth fastest.
Johann Zarco was fifth fastest and was lucky to avoid a nasty crash going into turn 13 when he lost the front end of his Tech M1. Thankfully for the Frenchman he managed to stand the bike up and used the extended run off to keep his bike upright. Maverick Vinales was sixth and he will be hoping that he can find some early race pace.
Cal Crutchlow was top Brit and seventh fastest LCR Honda ahead of Tito Rabat, Andrea Iannone and Jack Miller who rounded out top ten, with Iannone and Miller walking away from slow crashes.
Aleix Espargaro was eleventh fastest and ahead of Dani Pedrosa with Hafizh Syahrin the top rookie in thirteenth. Alvaro Bautista was fourteenth with the wildcarding Mika Kallio rounding out the top fifteen.
Session top speeds
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 345.3
9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Alma Pramac Racing DUCATI 343.5
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda CASTROL HONDA 343.2
44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 341.9
93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 341.4
99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team DUCATI 340.6
26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 340.3
53 Tito RABAT SPA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 340.0
25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 339.9
50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 339.4
