Maverick takes third best time in first practices in Australia. Rins, Oliveira and Márquez debut at Phillip Island with fifteenth, seventeenth and twenty-third place, respectively.
For the third consecutive week, the World Championship had free practice sessions to contest this Friday —this time at the Grand Prix of Australia. In Moto3, Maverick Viñales was back on his bike, finishing the day with the third fastest time. Rins, Oliveira and Márquez were all new to the technical layout of Phillip Island, but finished fifteenth, seventeenth and twenty-third, respectively.
Maverick Viñales was out on track focused on the job at hand. After finding his pace, despite a small crash, he recorded the fourth fastest time in a session dominated by Sandro Cortese. In the first run, Oliveira surprised with an excellent fifth place, with Rins and Márquez fifteenth and seventeenth, respectively.
Despite light rain at the end of the first Moto2 session, the second free practice for Moto3 finished in the dry and the riders managed to reduce their times from the morning. Viñales has stopped the clock at 1’39.495 milliseconds, 0.282 milliseconds off the best time of the day, set by Jonas Folger. A crash in the first few minutes prevented a repeat performance from Miguel Oliveira, who ended the day with the seventeenth fastest time, two tenths off teammate Álex Rins —fifteenth. Álex Márquez also had a fall on the opening laps, suffering a hard hit to his hand. He could not get back on track due to the damage to his bike, and ended the day in twenty-third position.
Maverick Viñales >> Audio
FP1 – 1:41.020, 14 laps, 62 km.
FP2 – 1:39.495, 16 laps, 71 km.
“I’m happy and I have a good feeling. Apart from the cold and rain, the first time out at the circuit has been very good. Again, I feel good on the bike. The track is tough, because the asphalt is very cold, and in the morning I crashed, but in the afternoon I could practice better. We found a good setting for the chassis and will have to try to get the most out of it.”
Miguel Oliveira >> Audio (port)
FP1 – 1:41.085, 20 laps, 89 km.
FP2 – 1:40.921, 15 laps, 67 km.
“This morning things went quite well, although it was the first time we had ridden at Phillip Island. At first we had some problems with the setup of the bike, but with the team we have made changes ahead of the afternoon session. However, we could not find a definitive solution. I need to improve my feeling, especially with the front end of the bike, but tomorrow we will try to improve these aspects.”
Álex Rins >> Audio
FP1 – 1:41.145, 13 laps, 58 km.
FP2 – 1:40.740, 17 laps, 76 km.
“In the first session we started with good pace and had a good feeling, though later, because of the bumps on the circuit, I crashed in the first corner. In the afternoon, I slowly found my feeling with the bike, but we needed more laps. We still have to improve in many ways, so for tomorrow we have much work to do.”
Álex Márquez >> Audio
FP1 – 1:41.261, 16 laps, 71 km.
FP2 – 1:46.739, 2 laps, 9 km.
“It was a new track for us and we had to adapt fast in order to place high up. In the morning we went pretty well, although we were still lacking a little something. In the afternoon, I had a small crash at the start of the session that did not allow us to go out anymore. Tomorrow we will have to work harder and be more focused.”
