Johann Zarco led Jack Miller in the opening practice opening for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island thanks to a late flyer that pipped the home hero by 0.091s.
The riders headed out onto the picturesque Aussie venue for the first time since 2019 on Friday morning, with a largely dry track greeting them despite the heavy rain that had bettered the region over the past couple of weeks – with several parts of the circuit being left flooded just hours before practice began.
Only a smattering of damp patches were left at the start of the test, though these soon dried up as the riders pumped in the laps, with Marco Bezzecchi leading the way early on with a 1:31.582s effort.
Several riders took turns at the head of the timesheets following the Italian, with series leader Fabio Quartararo snatching away the initiative for a while before Marc Marquez eventually secured the top spot on a 1:30.897s.
Miller though was keen to get his home weekend underway with a bang as he posted a rapid 1:30.561s to go fastest as the session neared its conclusion, the factory Ducati man soon lowering his benchmark by another tenth-of-a-second on his following lap.
He would ultimately be denied the scratch time by Pramac Ducati’s Zarco as the Frenchman banged in a 1:30.368s tour to lead Miller by just under a tenth, with Alex Marquez stringing together a strong lap at the death to move into third for LCR Honda.
Alex Rins claimed fourth for Suzuki ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, with Enea Bastianini piloting his Gresini-run Ducati to sixth on the timesheets.
Marc eventually was shuffled down to seventh having focussed on running with the medium-compound tyres, the six-time premier class champion ending up just ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.
Fabio Di Gianantonio was the highest-placed rookie in ninth on the sister Gresini entry, while Bezzecchi ended up completing the top ten for VR46 Ducati.
Pol Espargaro fell to 11th by the time the chequered flag fell having run well within the top five for the bulk of the session, as did Quartararo who had to make do with 12th.
The returning Joan Mir was an encouraging 15th overall for Suzuki in his first running since Aragon, the 2020 premier class world champion out-pacing all the KTM’s – Thai GP victor Miguel Oliveira the fastest RC16 in a lowly 18th just behind RNF Yamaha duo Darryn Binder and Cal Crutchlow.
Remy Gardner – who this weekend is set to compete in his first and only home encounter in MotoGP for at least the foreseeable future – started the event 20th overall just clear of Brad Binder’s factory KTM and Luca Marini’s VR46-run Ducati, as well as ahead of Tech 3 team-mate Raul Fernandez.
