Valentino Rossi had a more difficult Day 1 in the Spanish GP, taking twelfth on the timesheets by the end of play and finding it tough going in the wet and dry.

Saturday is a new day however, and the only man to have been on every podium so far in 2017 will be banking on some overnight improvements to get himself back into contention for back-to-back wins at the track after having taken the victory last year – with FP3 another chance to gain entry to Q2 qualifying and the weather on Saturday hopefully clearer.

The 'Doctor' also tested the new Yamaha 'aero-fairing' on Day 1 in Spain, with a number of pitboxes this weekend putting their versions through their paces.

"The conditions were quite wet today." Said Rossi "This morning the track was full wet and the first impression is that with this bike we suffer a bit more."

"We have to work. In fact, we were not very fast this morning. In the afternoon it was dry, but not completely, so we had to stay cautious because there were some humid patches."

"In the afternoon we also had some problems. We are not fast enough, so we have to work."

Jorge Lorenzo was quickest out the blocks in a wet on a run of red sectors and laps, but it was Dani Pedrosa who topped the session by the flag – by only 0.002 from LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow.

Jack Miller completed the top three. Championship leader Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was sixteenth, + 1.615.

Aleix Espargaro (seventh), Danilo Petrucci (eighth) and Jorge Lorenzo (ninth) all featured strongly in the top ten, with the latter in particular showing an adeptness in the wet early into the session, before conditions continued to worsen.

With Honda (four riders), Ducati (three riders) and Aprilia (one rider) all represented in the top nine, Maverick Viñales was the first of the Yamaha M1s in tenth, 0.9s back of Pedrosa's best time.

Jack Miller put in a stunning performance on Day 1 of the Spanish Grand Prix, as the Assen 2016 winner took second on the timesheets as the only man in the 1:39 bracket behind Friday’s fastest Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

"I felt really comfortable on the bike in the wet this morning and was happy to be battling inside the top three." He said "The start of this afternoon’s session was a bit tricky because there were still quite a few damp patches around. But at the end it was completely dry and I was happy with my lap time."

"I did a 1’39.964 and that’s my best lap here at Jerez. I did that time alone as well and I just feel confident and comfortable with how the bike is behaving around this track."

"I’ve got some great feeling from the front end and I can put the bike where I want to without being too close to the limit. It’s a brilliant way to start the weekend and hopefully we can build on this for a strong result on Sunday." He added