The first day of action at Phillip Island in Australia saw a cold and damp start followed by long delays due to an oil spillage in Moto3. However, there was still plenty of action in the top class and Team SUZUKI ECSTAR used the FP1 session to fine tune their GSX-RR. Andrea Iannone, pleased to be back at one of his favourite tracks, was able to top the timesheets in FP2 with a 1:29.131, as well as setting the fastest time in two of the four track sectors.
“We started well, and we were hoping to put in a good performance because our bike always works well at this track. But in any case, it’s always difficult to be at the front, especially here. We need to continue like this and still improve in some areas because I feel I’m losing a bit on acceleration. But we’ll try to arrive at 100% for the race. Tomorrow I’ll give my maximum”, Iannone said.
Here’s what the times in #MotoGP look like on Friday at Phillip Island ⏱
It’s @andreaiannone29 who leads on day one ?#AustralianGP ?? pic.twitter.com/Eug0UGSTcq
— MotoGP™??? (@MotoGP) October 26, 2018
Danilo Petrucci with Ducati was second while Maverick Viñales gave the third best time.
“It’s been a good Friday. I always like being in Phillip Island. It has a really nice lay-out, so I can push myself even more. I’m happy because we worked in the correct way. Maybe in the afternoon we tried a bit too much. We should continue with the same bike, I have a great feeling on it. I was able to really concentrate and be precise, so we can be there in the top-3. This track really flows, and it seems to work for us, but we still have Saturday and Sunday to go. Today has been very positive so let‘s see tomorrow”, Viñales explained.
❌ @calcrutchlow injured in Australia FP2 crash
British rider will have surgery on a bimalleolar fracture and anterior tibia part right ankle fracture after going down heavily at Turn 1 #MotoGP | #AustralianGP ? https://t.co/rmkCNzjVL3 pic.twitter.com/dLJqtSlNkx
— MotoGP™??? (@MotoGP) October 26, 2018
