At the AirAsia Grand Prix of Japan in Motegi it was Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa who went quickest on the first day of free practice in the afternoon session ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso.

Pedrosa's time in the low 1.46s set in sunny and dry conditions was sufficient to relegate Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo into second, who posted his best time on the hard rear tyre, despite starting on the softer option. Pedrosa’s top time came late on in the session after a quick adjustment to the front end of his bike, after having briefly run into the gravel earlier in practice. Third place went to Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso, after the Italian upped his pace towards the end of practice, showing strong consistency throughout both sessions.

LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl set the fourth fastest time of the day despite a short run off track, with the German keen to make amends for his DNF last time out in Aragón. In fifth was Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, who jumped up the timesheets with an unexpected hot-lap towards the end, leaving him just half a second off the top. Behind him in sixth, Yamaha’s Ben Spies will be looking to improve for tomorrow’s qualifying, being almost eight tenths down on his teammate.

Seventh spot is occupied by Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner, who looked strong on his first day back from injury, despite pitting frequently to dial in his bike’s set-up. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista finished the day in eighth, and will aim to jump further up the order tomorrow as he continues to work on his Showa suspension. In ninth, Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow had a subdued session for his standards, while Ducati’s Nicky Hayden completes the top ten, with the American doing well to ride with a fractured right radius.

Top CRT spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró, who did well to overcome a crash in the morning session. His teammate Randy de Puniet crashed out of the session early on, but was able to re-join on his second bike, albeit with a contusion to his left knee. Other riders that crashed out were Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham and Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez.

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