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Phillip Island MotoGP: Vinales fastest in wet, Quartararo crashes

Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales set the pace in a wet opening practice session for MotoGP's Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, as Fabio Quartararo suffered a major crash

Vinales was the only rider to break the 1m39s barrier during the 45-minute session on Friday morning, ending up 0.147 seconds clear of nearest rival Jack Miller on the Pramac Ducati.

Quartararo had to be taken to the medical centre after being stretchered away from the scene of his crash, the Siberia left-hander - the Petronas SRT Yamaha rookie having suffered a high-side in the tricky conditions.

Miller, Vinales and Marc Marquez all took turns at the head of the timing sheets in the opening half of the session, with Honda man Marquez moving to the fore with a 1m39.719s and then later a 1m39.398s.

But Vinales soon surpassed that with a 1m39.338s, and after a series of improvements he ended up on a 1m38.957s just as the rain began to intensify.

That meant he would remain on top for the remainder of the session, although Miller was able to improve to a 1m39.104s to jump ahead of Marquez for second.

Behind the lead trio, Valentino Rossi, who is set to make his 400th grand prix start at Phillip Island, was fourth-fastest on the second works Yamaha, 0.928s off the pace.

Danilo Petrucci was best of the factory Ducatis in fifth ahead of lead Petronas rider Franco Morbidelli, with Quartararo ending up seventh after his tumble.

KTM pair Pol Espargaro and Miguel Oliveira were next up, followed by Andrea Dovizioso - who rounded out the top 10 on his Ducati.

In his first session aboard a Honda, Johann Zarco was 13th-quickest and a little over two seconds off the pace, putting him one place ahead of LCR team-mate Cal Crutchlow and just behind the lead Suzuki of Alex Rins.

Jorge Lorenzo was again the slowest of the Honda runners in 18th, three seconds off the pace.

Aprilia had a strangely low-key session as both of its riders completed only 13 laps - the least of anybody - and filled out the last two positions, Andrea Iannone in 21st leading Aleix Espargaro in 22nd.

Practice one times

Pos Rider Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 1m38.957s - 20
2 Jack Miller Ducati 1m39.104s 0.147s 15
3 Marc Marquez Honda 1m39.342s 0.385s 17
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m39.885s 0.928s 19
5 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1m39.910s 0.953s 16
6 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1m40.320s 1.363s 23
7 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1m40.575s 1.618s 19
8 Pol Espargaro KTM 1m40.587s 1.630s 20
9 Miguel Oliveira KTM 1m40.675s 1.718s 21
10 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m40.690s 1.733s 18
11 Karel Abraham Ducati 1m40.799s 1.842s 17
12 Alex Rins Suzuki 1m40.860s 1.903s 21
13 Johann Zarco Honda 1m41.052s 2.095s 21
14 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1m41.073s 2.116s 16
15 Joan Mir Suzuki 1m41.118s 2.161s 20
16 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1m41.180s 2.223s 21
17 Hafizh Syahrin KTM 1m41.371s 2.414s 21
18 Jorge Lorenzo Honda 1m41.958s 3.001s 16
19 Mika Kallio KTM 1m42.306s 3.349s 20
20 Tito Rabat Ducati 1m43.547s 4.590s 21
21 Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1m43.779s 4.822s 13
22 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1m44.148s 5.191s 13

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