Jorge Lorenzo set the pace across both free practice sessions at Phillip Island. Image: MotoGP.com.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo has topped both free practice sessions on the opening day of the Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

Cool but clear conditions greeted riders in their first track running of the event, with Lorenzo’s 1m29.167 effort proving the benchmark ahead of Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, 0.088 seconds in arrears.

Lorenzo led the second session, again under sunny skies, but this time the leading Honda belonged to GO&FUN Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista who had run third early before improving to second, though 0.477s away from the front-running Yamaha.

Dani Pedrosa slotted his Repsol Honda into third for the session, despite losing time due to a loose engine mounting bolt which protruded from the side of his bike.

The second factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi ran fourth, 0.576s off the pace of his teammate, while Monster Tech3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow put in an encouraging performance to set the fifth-fastest time on his satellite M1.

Runaway points leader and class rookie Marc Marquez was an uncharacteristic fifth, with his second session defined by a dramatic crash at Lukey Heights.

As he has done all season, the 20-year-old was able to walk away from the incident and suffered no further consequence other than some lost track time.

Bradley Smith placed seventh on the second Tech3 Yamaha, with Randy de Puniet a strong performer on the Power Electronics Aspar machine in eighth.

The factory Ducati pairing of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso finished inside the top 10 but were over 1.5 seconds off the pace of the other prototypes.

The Aussie crowd’s focus was on the CRT entries of Bryan Staring and Damian Cudlin, with the Gresini Honda and Paul Bird Motorsport mount recording the 21st and 23rd-fastest times respectively.

The battle within the Moto2 field played out amongst the title protagonists, with Esteve Rabat topping both sessions on the Tuenti HP40 machine.

Spaniard Rabat set a 1m33.157 lap in the first free practice, with his time standing as the quickest of the day after the second session had played out.

Marc VDS rider Scott Redding placed second in both sessions, rounding out the day 0.116s off the pace of Rabat, while the second Tuenti HP 40 of Pol Espargaro was third.

Jordi Torres on the Aspar Team Moto2 mount was fourth ahead of NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis in fifth, with both riders’ times from the morning session proving faster than the afternoon.

Sole Aussie Moto2 entrant Ant West ran solidly in 18th, 1.455s off the pace of the leading rider.

Team Calvo’s Maverick Vinales registered the day’s quickest time in the Moto3 ranks ahead of Mapfre Aspar Team’s Jonas Folger and Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin.

Caretta Technology RTG rider Jack Miller was the first of the four Aussies home in 12th, with Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Arthur Sissis close behind in 14th.

Lachlan Kavney ran 34th despite suffering problems, while fellow wildcard Callum Barker took part but did not register a placing, finishing the day 9.677s off the pace.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round 16 – Phillip Island, Australia

MotoGP free practice:
1. Jorge LORENZO 1m28.961
2. Alvaro BAUTISTA 1m29.438
3. Dani PEDROSA 1m29.478
4. Valentino ROSSI 1m29.537
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW 1m29.667
6. Marc MARQUEZ 1m29.989
7. Bradley SMITH 1m30.165
8. Randy DE PUNIET 1m30.215
9. Nicky HAYDEN 1m30.609
10. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 1m30.754
11. Andrea IANNONE 1m30.792
12. Colin EDWARDS 1m30.917
13. Aleix ESPARGARO 1m31.091
14. Yonny HERNANDEZ 1m31.134
15. Hector BARBERA 1m31.286
16. Hiroshi AOYAMA 1m31.434
17. Claudio CORTI 1m31.451
18. Danilo PETRUCCI 1m31.985
19. Michael LAVERTY 1m32.066
20. Luca SCASSA ITA 1m32.261
21. Bryan STARING (AUS) 1m32.290
23. Damian CUDLIN (AUS) 1m34.969

Moto2 free practice:
1. Esteve RABAT 1m33.157
2. Scott REDDING 1m33.328
3. Pol ESPARGARO 1m33.335
4. Jordi TORRES 1m33.615
5. Alex DE ANGELIS 1m33.782
6. Dominique AEGERTER 1m34.906
7. Sandro CORTESE 1m33.921
8. Johann ZARCO 1m34.253
9. Thom LUTHI 1m34.010
10. Mika KALLIO 1m34.086
11. Nico TEROL 1m34.128
12. Xavier SIMEON 1m34.180
13. Mattia PASINI 1m34.215
14. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 1m34.587
15. Simone CORSI 1m34.719
16. Julian SIMON 1m34.747
17. Marcel SCHROTTER 1m34.579
18. Ant WEST 1m34.612
19. Ricard CARDUS 1m34.985
20. Danny KENT 1m34.950

Moto3 free practice:
1. Maverick VIÑALES 1m38.198
2. Jonas FOLGER 1m38.220
3. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 1m38.224
4. Luis SALOM 1m38.235
5. Niccolò ANTONELLI 1m38.383
6. Miguel OLIVEIRA 1m38.488
7. Alex RINS 1m38.495
8. Isaac VIÑALES 1m38.571
9. Brad BINDER 1m38.685
10. Niklas AJO 1m38.725
11. Jack MILLER 1m38.985
12. Romano FENATI 1m38.991
13. Alex MARQUEZ 1m38.996
14. Arthur SISSIS 1m39.181
15. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI 1m39.207
16. Efren VAZQUEZ 1m39.238
17. Alan TECHER 1m39.261
18. Efren VAZQUEZ 1m39.302
19. Ana CARRASCO 1m39.317
20. Alexis MASBOU 1m39.343

Click here for detailed results