Forward Yamaha’s Aleix Espargaro topped the times in the opening free practice session of the Tissot Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.
The Spaniard produced a late flurry of flying laps to end the 45 minute hit out on top of the pile, with his personal best effort of 1.29.749s, just 0.160s quicker than Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.
Newly crowned world champion Marc Marquez had led the majority of the session but in the end the Honda man slid to fifth overall with his time three tenths slower than Espargaro.
Espargaro and Lorenzo were the only riders to dip inside the 1m30s bracket at the 4.4km circuit.
Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone was third fastest ahead of Valentino Rossi in fourth.
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso debuted Bridgestone’s new asymmetric front tyre during the session as he finished sixth in front of team-mate Cal Crutchlow.
Bradley Smith was eighth while Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl rounded out the top 10.
Elsewhere, there was drama for Australia’s Broc Parkes as he suffered a crash at Doohan corner in the closing minutes of the session. The Paul Bird Motorsport rider ended Free Practice 1 in 22nd position.
In Moto2, Esteve Rabat topped the times while Australia’s Ant West and Aidan Wagner were 22nd and 27th fastest respectively.
MotoGP Free Practice 2 begins at 3.05pm (Melbourne time).
MotoGP Free Practice 1 Results
| Position | Rider | Team/Bike | Time | Gap |
| 1 | Aleix Espargaro | Forward Racing Yamaha | 1:29.749s | – |
| 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1:29.909s | 0.160s |
| 3 | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Racing Ducati | 1:30.025s | 0.276s |
| 4 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1:30.051s | 0.302s |
| 5 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1:30.079s | 0.330s |
| 6 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1:30.383s | 0.634s |
| 7 | Cal Crutchlow | Ducati | 1:30.453s | 0.704s |
| 8 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:30.645s | 0.896s |
| 9 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | 1:30.667s | 0.918s |
| 10 | Stefan Bradl | LCR Honda | 1:30.696s | 0.947s |
| 11 | Pol Espargaro | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:30.770s | 1.021s |
| 12 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Racing Ducati | 1:30.898s | 1.149s |
| 13 | Nicky Hayden | Aspar Honda | 1:31.034s | 1.285s |
| 14 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Racing Ducati | 1:31.143s | 1.394s |
| 15 | Scott Redding | Gresini Racing Honda | 1:31.174s | 1.425s |
| 16 | Karel Abraham | Cardion Honda | 1:31.282s | 1.533s |
| 17 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Racing Honda | 1:31.383s | 1.634s |
| 18 | Alex de Angelis | Forward Racing Yamaha | 1:31.588s | 1.839s |
| 19 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Aspar Honda | 1:31.615s | 1.866s |
| 20 | Danilo Petrucci | IodaRacing Aprilia | 1:31.723s | 1.974s |
| 21 | Mike Di Meglio | Avintia Racing Kawasaki | 1:32.191s | 2.442s |
| 22 | Broc Parkes | PBM Aprilia | 1:32.692s | 2.943s |
| 23 | Michael Laverty | PBM Aprilia | 1:33.432s | 3.683s |
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