Octo Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci set the fastest time in today’s rain-hit first day of MotoGP testing at Phillip Island where most of the pack sat in their respective garages until the final hour.
Riders were greeted with overcast skies and a wet track as they entered the circuit on Wednesday morning. This saw a slow start to proceedings with Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa the first to head out on wet tyres. Fellow Honda riders Tito Rabat and Cal Crutchlow soon followed.
Both of the Repsol Honda riders had the latest 2016 ‘evo’ engine while Crutchlow and Rabat were equipped with a 2015 engine and 2016 engine with a similar spec to that which the factory team tested in Valencia at the end of 2015. The rain meant that no major tests for any manufacturer could take place, but did allow teams and riders to further their understanding of how the Michelin tyres and Magneti Marelli software work in the wet.
Valentino Rossi, who turned 37 the day before the test, ventured out with the 2016 bike featuring the fuel tank in the rear. Meanwhile his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, completed 22 laps in the wet, the most wet laps of any rider. As the first day of testing approached the midway point, the rain eased and allowed Marc Marquez to venture out on the new intermediate tyre. Marquez, who celebrated his birthday on the opening day of the test, led the majority of the session with a 1’35.354 as only 11 riders had chosen to lap in the wet.
Hope was offered as the final two hours began, the track beginning to dry and a flurry of riders heading out as a brief dry window opened in the closing hour. Times quickly dropped as the Octo Pramac Yakhnich pair of Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding fitted slicks, the pair sitting 1-2 until the closing stages of the session. On and off showers continued after the initial dry spell with riders able to head back out on track with just 20 minutes remaining for one final dry run.
Maverick Viñales and Bradley Smith would be amongst the biggest improvers in the final 20 minutes, the pair pulling themselves into the top three and within a second of Petrucci’s best time. Petrucci’s time of 1’31.764 would be the best of the day, but over two second’s off Marquez’s fastest race lap of 2015, a 1’29.280. Meanwhile his teammate, Scott Redding, was fourth and 1.100s behind but completed a total of 41 laps, the most of any rider.
Both Crutchlow and Rossi, who had done the majority of their laps in the wet and missed the first dry window, entered the circuit in the closing minutes to improve to fifth and sixth. Pol Espargaro was another to benefit from improved track conditions as he set a 1’33.126, placing him seventh. The trio were the only other riders within two seconds of Petrucci, the Italian having now led two days of testing in 2016.
Australia’s Jack Miller was back and riding his Marc VDS Racing Team Honda for the first time since breaking his right leg. The young Townsville native and his team had aimed to do just 25 laps a day in order to assess the condition of his still healing leg, but conditions reduced his lap count to just six on Wednesday. He was still able to set a time of 1’33.992 for the ninth fastest time of the day, putting him just behind Yonny Hernandez on the Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati GP14.2.
The Colombian beat both factory Ducati riders with Iannone in tenth. Iannone had attempted to go out earlier in the day during an initial dry spell, but rain quickly ended his lap. Andrea Dovizioso had been on track but did not register a time. Neither of the Avintia Racing Ducati riders decided to circulate in the uncertain conditions.
