0.098 splits Dovi, Vinales, Crutchlow, Marquez on Day 1

Andrea
Andrea Dovizioso flies on his Ducati

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) finished Day 1 at the PTT Thailand Grand Prix top of the combined timesheets after setting a 1:31.090 to go 0.031 faster than FP1’s quickest rider Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), the Spaniard second overall, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) completing the top three split by a slender 0.043

The Italian rider produced a late flying lap to grab the headlines with a 1m 31.090s to beat Vinales by just 0.031s using new soft front and rear tyres with the Movistar Yamaha setting his best lap time on hard front and rear tires.

With Sunday’s race taking place at the same time of day as Friday’s FP2, the majority of the riders targeted race pace in extremely hot conditions at the Thai track, with Dovizioso also impressing over a long run for Ducati.

Disaster struck for Lorenzo heading into Turn 3 with just over ten minutes of the session remaining. As the Spaniard entered the corner, his GP18’s engine seemed to have an issue, causing Lorenzo to be launched over the top of the bike, landing heavily on his already injured right foot as the Ducati machine suffered severe damage. The five-time World Champion was carried off on a stretcher and headed to the medical centre for a checkup, before heading to the hospital for further examinations. Thankfully, the Ducati man was declared fit.

After Xavier Simeon (Reale Avintia Racing) crashed at Turn 3 shortly after Lorenzo’s crash, the Red Flags were shown with just over 12 minutes left of the session to clear the debris and potential fluid that was on the track. After the all-clear was given, the rest of the field came back out to put in a flurry of quicker times on fresh rubber. Viñales was the first man to oust Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) from P1 after the latter had led the entire session before Dovi and Crutchlow followed suit. Crutchlow improves from P11 in FP1 to end the day as the fastest Honda, with the Championship leader ending the day in P4 – 0.098 the gap between the leading quartet.

Fifth on the combined timesheets was Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing), finishing 0.050 behind Marquez to improve from P9 in FP1, with Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) a further 0.018 behind in sixth despite a fast crash at Turn 4 in FP2. Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) managed to string a strong second Free Practice session together to end the day seventh fastest, a big improvement from the Spaniard’s P16 result in FP1 who then suffered a small crash at Turn 3 right at the end of the session – rider ok.

Friday Times

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Time
1 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'31.090
2 25 Maverick VINALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'31.121
3 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 1'31.164
4 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'31.188
5 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 1'31.238
6 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1'31.256
7 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Angel Nieto Team Ducati 1'31.378
8 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'31.385
9 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'31.398
10 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'31.421
11 43 Jack MILLER AUS Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 1'31.486
12 21 Franco MORBIDELLI ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'31.647
13 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 1'31.714
14 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'31.841
15 42 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1'31.929
16 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team Ducati 1'32.027
17 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'32.067
18 55 Hafizh SYAHRIN MAL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'32.177
19 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Angel Nieto Team Ducati 1'32.403
20 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'32.475
21 45 Scott REDDING GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'32.650
22 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'32.661
23 10 Xavier SIMEON BEL Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1'32.989
24 81 Jordi TORRES SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1'33.503