Franco Morbidelli opened up top as the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix kicked off with Free Practice 1, the Italian comfortably heading off Maverick Vinales and Jorge Martin at the Mandalika Street Circuit.
In a season that has seen Morbidelli trail in the shadow of championship leading team-mate Martin, the Pramac Ducati rider was nonetheless the standard for much of a dusty first practice session around the Lombok venue.
Frequently bettering his own benchmark upon taking residence at the head of the timesheets with just under ten minutes of the session remaining, Morbidelli’s final effort of 1m30.689s ensured a comfortable 0.221s advantage over second-placed Vinales.
The Aprilia Racing rider made haste in the closing stages of the session to lift himself up the order, the Spaniard also posting his personal best lap at the final time of asking as the only other rider to dip below 1m31s.
Points leader Martin shrugged off a couple of leery moments while on quick laps to regroup for third on the second of the Pramac Ducatis, while Pedro Acosta spared KTM’s blushes with a big improvement that rebounded him from outside the top ten to fourth at the flag.
In fifth place, Johann Zarco gave Honda a rare opportunity to smile in what was a competitive start to the weekend for the ailing Japanese manufacturer.
Both Zarco and fellow LCR rider Takaaki Nakagami enjoyed stints at the head of the timesheets at different stages of the session, Zarco eventually settling in fifth and within a second of the top spot.
Though Nakagami slid further to 11th, factory Repsol counterpart Luca Marini – the pole sitter in Indonesia twelve months ago on the VR46 Ducati – was a confidence-boosting ninth fastest.
Marc Marquez headed up a trio of Ducatis in sixth place, the Gresini man followed by VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi in seventh place and factory rider Enea Bastianini in eighth, while Bezzecchi’s team-mate Fabio di Giannantonio completed the top ten behind Marini.
Further back, Francesco Bagnaia persevered with a familiar low key start to his weekend, the title contender making do with 14th place behind Gresini’s Alex Marquez and KTM’s Brad Binder in 12th and 13th respectively.
Fabio Quartararo held station inside the top ten for much of the session but a decision to sit out the final time attacks in the concluding minutes would see him shuffled down to 15th at the flag. Even so, he remained the quickest of the Yamaha riders with Alex Rins – back in action after being sidelined by illness a week ago at Misano – just behind in 16th.
Despite the sketchy conditions around a circuit that is little used outside of its annual MotoGP date, there would be just a single crash for Miguel Oliveira during the 45-minute session.
The Trackhouse Aprilia rider was left visibly dazed after being flicked into a high-side at Turn 4 with 15 minutes of the session remaining, Oliveira going on to pay a visit to the medical centre as a consequence.
