Ecstar Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone showed blistering pace on new tyres to take top spot on the combined MotoGP free practice timesheets at Phillip Island, lapping more than a tenth quicker than Danilo Petrucci who got a tow from Maverick Vinales to claim second place.
But it was not good news for Britain’s Cal Crutchlow who was taken to the circuit medical centre after a crash at Doohan corner. The LCR Honda man went down with 15 minutes left to go just after the wind began to get up. He was stretchered out of the gravel trap clutching his leg before being put into an ambulance.
Iannone showed good pace on the hard rear Michelin before turning to the softs all round and putting in a 1’29.131 to bag the honours in among a three 1’29s laps on the soft and three on the hard. Pramac Ducati’s Petrucci shadowed Yamaha’s Vinales - who was fastest in the opening session - for a 1’29.291 but doesn’t have the pace of Iannone.
Vinales’ best of 1’29.354 also came on the soft rear Michelin was the first of three laps in the 1’29s and he was able to stay ahead of Andrea Dovizoso’s factory Ducati. The Bologna bullets haven’t enjoyed much success at Phillip Island but the Italian showed pace on the soft tyres with three laps in the 1’29s and a best of 1’29.406.
Despite ending the session under medical supervision, Crutchlow’s best time of 1’29.616 - set on mediums all round - was enough to keep him in fifth place but his team have some repair work to do as Taka Nakagami also ended his day in the gravel at Siberia, fortunately unhurt.
Johann Zarco muscled his way into sixth place late on to depose reigning champion Marc Marquez who was not having a whole lot of fun on the works RC213V. Two moments at Siberia over the day, added to yet another big save at the Southern Loop, saw the Spaniard a little unsettled as he only managed one lap in the 1’29s.
But Marquez stuck with the same medium/soft combination - which had already done two laps at session start - and he was able to comfortably lap in the 1’30s.
Hometown hero Jack Miller ended in eighth place with a best of 1’29.838 to stay in front of Alex Rins while Valentino Rossi claimed the final automatic qualifying two place should it rain tomorrow morning. Rossi couldn’t break into the 1’29s even with a new softs all round on his final run and finished a full second behind countryman Iannone after a big moment at Siberia which saw him in the litter.
Hafizh Syahrin was best of the rookies in 11th place with Britain’s Bradley Smith one place further back. Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaro were next along with Alvaro Bautista only managinh five laps on the works Ducati after a crash at Siberia.
The Spaniard went down right at the beginning of the session and didn’t make another appearance as his number two bike was still under inspection after sensor failure this morning, so he spent 35 minutes looking at a timing screen which showed him ending in 15th overall.
Aleix Espargaro is riding an experimental Aprilia this weekend but it doesn’t seem to be a whole lot better than the 2018 bike as he is still down in 16th place. Team-mate Scott Redding is also having a torrid time, ending second to last with Jordi Torres in front of him and only Bautista stand-in Mike Jones behind - and only 1.7s at that.
