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MotoGP, FP1, Viñales and Yamaha rule the roost, Rossi 9th

The Spaniard is impressive, more than half a second ahead of Marquez, Pedrosa 3rd, Lorenzo 5th, Dovizioso 11th

MotoGP: FP1, Viñales and Yamaha rule the roost, Rossi 9th

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At Losail the spotlights are on the premier class too. After Moto3 and Moto2, the MotoGP bikes were finally on the track. He is still the protagonist: Maverick Viñales. Like in the last tests, the Spaniard made his M1 shine in the opening session with a time of 1’54”316. The Yamaha standard bearer was even faster than the pole Lorenzo took a year ago, using the soft tyre in the finale both on the rear and on the front. The number 25 rider’s performance was impressive on the flying lap, but more than anything, the gap ahead of the nearest followers was amazing.

We are talking about Marc Marquez and Honda, called on to deal with a gap behind the lead of more than six tenths (+0.596), followed by his teammate Pedrosa, confirmation of the improvement demonstrated over the winter. There is another Yamaha in the top positions and it is the one ridden by rookie Jonas Folger (+1.271) who, in his last attempt, took fourth place ahead of Jorge Lorenzo’s GP17, twenty thousandths behind the German.

The Spaniard was the best Borgo Panigale rider, followed by another Ducati, the Avintia machine ridden by Loris Baz (+1.308). Cal Crutchlow was also in the mix (+1.323). Despite a blown engine at the beginning of the session, the LCR standard bearer returned to the track, logging an opening lap with the seventh best time, ahead of Zarco (+1.476) and Rossi (+1.483), who were both within only seven thousandths.

The Doctor continues to struggle more than his teammate. Number 46 worked on the frame, suffering most of all with the rear. So there is a lot of work to do for him and the disappointment on his face at the end of the session was the emblem of the troubles encountered. In the end he was still able to muster the grit to stay in the top ten.

Not making it into the top ten was, surprisingly enough, Andrea Dovizioso (+1.557), only eleventh at more than a second and a half from the leader. We should point out, however, that the rider from Forlì did not put on a new tyre in the finale. Behind him were Redding and Iannone, with Petrucci sixteenth, also preferring not to use a new tyre. Also of interest in this first session were the harmless crashes by Lowes, Miller and Abraham.   

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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