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Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales has set the pace in a wet and windy MotoGP Warm Up session at Phillip Island.
Adverse weather forecasts have led to multiple changes to the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix’s weekend schedule, with concern still that today’s racing may not be possible due to predictions of winds exceeding 50km/h.
While conditions had eased for the Moto3 Warm Up which kicked off proceedings, the rain became heavier just as pit lane opened for the premier class session, at which point the wind was a 35km/h northwesterly.
Fabio Quartararo ran long at Siberia just two minutes into proceedings but was able to keep his Monster Energy Yamaha upright as he rode through the gravel trap.
Viñales was quickest after the first flyers on a 1:42.687s, 0.677s up on Quartararo, who sat second at the time.
Viñales continued to find time over the following laps, clocking a 1:40.514s and then a 1:39.709s which had him more than a full second clear of the field.
Despite the rain seeming to get worse, and crews struggling to hold out pit boards, ‘Top Gun’ went quicker again with a 1:39.036s in the final minute before the chequered flag.
That was where the benchmark remained, with pole-sitter Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) moving to second on a 1:40.240s on his final lap – 13 seconds away from his qualifying time – ahead of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM).
The Grand Prix winner on the afternoon prior, Johann Zarco, ended up 13th on his Pramac Ducati.
Although the Moto3 Warm Up had been relatively uneventful, the rainy Moto2 session which followed was marred by at least six separate, single-rider crashes.
Albert Arenas was first to go down, at Miller Corner, before Manuel Gonzalez highsided at the Hayshed, of all places.
Then it was Lukas Tulovic hitting the deck at Doohan Corner, Kohta Nozane having a spill, Tony Arbolino tucking the front at Siberia, and session pace-setter Zonta van den Goorbergh’s rear end stepping out at Southern Loop, although it appeared that all riders were okay.
The MotoGP Sprint is currently scheduled to start at 13:00 local time/AEDT, weather permitting.
