Lorenzo tops opening practice in Valencia

Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) began his final MotoGP weekend in Yamaha colors in dominant style, taking the top spot by almost four tenths from teammate Valentino Rossi. 2016 Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was third, only a fraction behind the Italian at Valencia.

Sepang winner Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was fourth, with Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) beginning his final weekend with Tech 3 in the top five.

Team Suzuki Ecstar duo Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro were P6 and P7, with Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) and Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) completing the top ten.

Returning Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) began his first weekend back in action following his highside in Motegi getting up to speed slowly – before incredibly ending FP1 in P12.

Mika Kallio’s first outing on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine in Valencia saw the Finn at the back, but only two seconds off the current World Champion in the bike’s first taste of competition.

Results FP1

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time	Behind	Gap
1	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1'31.045	0.000	0.000
2	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1'31.432	0.387	0.387
3	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1'31.442	0.397	0.010
4	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1'31.532	0.487	0.090
5	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1'31.785	0.740	0.253
6	25	Maverick VINALES	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1'31.926	0.881	0.141
7	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1'31.942	0.897	0.016
8	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1'32.155	1.110	0.213
9	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	OCTO Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati	1'32.212	1.167	0.057
10	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1'32.265	1.220	0.053
11	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	1'32.285	1.240	0.020
12	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1'32.453	1.408	0.168
13	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	OCTO Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati	1'32.479	1.434	0.026
14	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	1'32.576	1.531	0.097
15	53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1'32.637	1.592	0.061
16	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1'32.845	1.800	0.208
17	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1'32.924	1.879	0.079
18	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1'33.056	2.011	0.132
19	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Pull & Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1'33.161	2.116	0.105
20	50	Eugene LAVERTY	IRL	Pull & Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1'33.349	2.304	0.188
21	76	Loris BAZ	FRA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	1'33.506	2.461	0.157
22	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1'33.985	2.940	0.479