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Iannone tops opening day at Phillip Island

Andrea Iannone
Andrea Iannone

Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) left it late to leap to the top of the combined timesheets in FP2 at the Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, setting a 1:29.131 on his final lap to oust Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) from P1. The two Italians were separated by 0.160, with FP1’s quickest man Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) completing the top three .

Glorious conditions greeted the premier class for their second session of the weekend as the threat of rain cleared at Phillip Island. The start of the session didn’t go as planned for Ducati Team’s Alvaro Bautista after he crashed at Turn 6, this coming before both Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) ran into the gravel at the same corner.

Both riders were able to regroup and as is typical for FP2, the quickest times of the day were posted towards the end of the session as fresh soft compound Michelin rubber was laid down. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) went top with three minutes to go, but not for long. Vinales soon propelled himself into P1 but clinging onto his tailpipes was the Desmosedici of Petrucci, the Italian going 0.063 faster than his Yamaha counterpart to lead the session. Iannone though would have the last laugh, putting his GSX-RR top of the pile as the checkered flag came out. This meant Dovi ended Friday fourth.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) made a strong start to the Australian GP to finish P5 on the combined times, however, his Friday ended in him having a big crash at Turn 1 late in FP2. The Briton had to be stretchered off after holding his right leg as he headed straight for the medical center for a checkup. Meanwhile, Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) got himself up into P6 towards the end of the session to jump ahead of Marquez – the Champion ends Day 1 in P7.

After finishing P2 in FP1, home hero Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) sits in a provisional automatic Q2 spot in P8 after a positive start to his weekend, with Japan podium finisher Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) completing the top ten on Friday – ‘The Doctor’ keeping 11th place Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) at bay by just 0.046.

Free Practice Classification

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'29.131
2 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 1'29.291 / 0.160
3 Vinales Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'29.354 / 0.223
4 Dovizioso Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'29.406 / 0.275
5 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 1'29.616 / 0.485
6 Zarco Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'29.686 / 0.555
7 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'29.739 / 0.608
8 Miller Jack 43 AUS Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 1'29.838 / 0.707
9 Rins Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'29.918 / 0.787
10 Rossi Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'30.133 / 1.002
11 Syahrin Hafizh 55 MAL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'30.179 / 1.048
12 Smith Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'30.346 / 1.215
13 Pedrosa Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'30.472 / 1.341
14 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'30.545 / 1.414
15 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA Ducati Team Ducati 1'30.734 / 1.603
16 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'30.736 / 1.605
17 Abraham Karel 17 CZE Angel Nieto Team Ducati 1'30.772 / 1.641
18 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'30.787 / 1.656
19 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 1'30.830 / 1.699
20 Simeon Xavier 10 BEL Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1'31.275 / 2.144
21 Luthi Tom 12 SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'31.539 / 2.408
22 Torres Jordi 81 SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1'31.570 / 2.439
23 Redding Scott 45 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'31.941 / 2.810
24 Jones Mike 7 AUS Angel Nieto Team Ducati 1'33.633 / 4.502