Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso ended Day 1 at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan as the fastest man on track, but the Italian was only 0.043 ahead of his nearest challenger – Championship leader Marc Marquez.
Marquez was fastest in the morning by some margin before ‘DesmoDovi’ hit back, and the reigning Champion ended his afternoon session prematurely with a crash at Turn 4 – rider ok.
Aleix Espargaro was top Independent Team rider on Day 1, and impressed in both sessions – second in FP1 and third in FP2 to go third overall.
He was just ahead of Ducati Team’s Jorge Lorenzo, who was fourth in both the morning and afternoon – despite an incident in which the Majorcan was collected up in a crash for Cal Crutchlow.
Johann Zarco was the top Yamaha on Day 1 and completed the top five, 0.073 seconds clear of fellow Indendenpent Team rider Danilo Petrucci – who was another 0.073 ahead of compatriot Andrea Iannone.
Dani Pedrosa managed to find something in the afternoon session to move up to P8, having struggled in FP1 with the combination of wet weather and relatively low temperature.
He headed Crutchlow, with rookie Alex Rins completing the top ten as both Hamamatsu factory machines were amongst the potential Q2 graduates. Suzuki also had a new aero-fairing out on track.
Maverick Viñales as he moved down from FP1 to FP2, ending Friday in eleventh and just over a tenth faster than his teammate Valentino Rossi.
0.018 seconds further back was one of the most impressive performances of the first day as Kohta Nozane – replacing Jonas Folger – took thirteenth, ahead of Scott Redding and Karel Abraham.
The weather sadly looks unlikely to change too much, but it remains to be seen how the skies look for FP3 as graduation to Q2 is decided, and then the grid for the race on Sunday.
FP2 Result:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Time | Gap 1st/Prev |
| 1 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1’54.877 | |
| 2 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1’54.920 | 0.043 / 0.043 |
| 3 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1’55.061 | 0.184 / 0.141 |
| 4 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1’55.234 | 0.357 / 0.173 |
| 5 | Johann ZARCO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1’55.468 | 0.591 / 0.234 |
| 6 | Danilo PETRUCCI | OCTO Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1’55.541 | 0.664 / 0.073 |
| 7 | Andrea IANNONE | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 1’55.614 | 0.737 / 0.073 |
| 8 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1’55.773 | 0.896 / 0.159 |
| 9 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda | Honda | 1’56.149 | 1.272 / 0.376 |
| 10 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 1’56.229 | 1.352 / 0.080 |
| 11 | Maverick VIÑALES | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1’56.376 | 1.499 / 0.147 |
| 12 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1’56.435 | 1.558 / 0.059 |
| 13 | Kohta NOZANE | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1’56.453 | 1.576 / 0.018 |
| 14 | Scott REDDING | OCTO Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1’56.680 | 1.803 / 0.227 |
| 15 | Karel ABRAHAM | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 1’56.776 | 1.899 / 0.096 |
| 16 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 1’56.827 | 1.950 / 0.051 |
| 17 | Bradley SMITH | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1’56.853 | 1.976 / 0.026 |
| 18 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1’56.872 | 1.995 / 0.019 |
| 19 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1’57.250 | 2.373 / 0.378 |
| 20 | Loris BAZ | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1’57.259 | 2.382 / 0.009 |
| 21 | Hector BARBERA | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1’57.540 | 2.663 / 0.281 |
| 22 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 1’57.548 | 2.671 / 0.008 |
| 23 | Tito RABAT | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 1’57.645 | 2.768 / 0.097 |
| 24 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 1’58.341 | 3.464 / 0.696 |
| Weather Conditions: |
source: motogp.com