Britain’s Sam Lowes played second fiddle to Moto2 class rookie Alex Rins on day one of practice at the Phillip Island MotoGP round but was only edged off top spot by the Spaniard with his final run which saw the Pons rider go 0.046s quicker than Lowes with his final lap of 23 in the second session.
Lowes had been top dog with a 1’33.152 for a majority of the period, setting his quickest time on lap six with Takaaki Nakagami second on a 1’33.371 but Rins was building and building towards the end of the session and put in a 1’33.106 to go quickest while Lorenzo Baldassarri nicked third from the Japanese rider with a 1’33.305.
Jonas Folger took fifth place with Sandro Cortese sixth, Thomas Luthi seventh, Mika Kallio eighth and new world champion Johann Zarco ninth. Former champion Tito Rabat crashed heavily in the session and was taken to the medical centre for checks on the wrist he broke before the Motegi round. He fell at turn 11 in a spill that was identical to Scott Redding’s two years ago. His Kalex went into a tankslapper as he tapped the throttle and was pitched over the highside.
Doctors told the Spaniard there was no further injury to the wrist, so he and the team will now decided whether Rabat takes any further part in the weekend's action.
