Source: Supplied.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso delivered, as expected, the fastest laptime on day one of the Red Bull Ring MotoGP weekend in Austria, leading teammate Andrea Iannone on the timesheets at the revamped venue.

Dovizioso set a 1m23.617s in practice two to top Iannone by 0.238s, while Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales showed strong form on Friday in third overall, 0.854s from first place.

“I am very pleased with the way my weekend has begun, even though we found the tyres, and above all the weather conditions, completely different to those during the test in July,” Dovizioso said.

“Despite this we were able to confirm our good form and everything is going well, but it’s not enough because we still have to improve some aspects in view of the race. What is certain however is that we can use tomorrow’s two sessions to search for the best race pace.”

Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was fourth on day one and the final rider to lap within a second of Dovizioso. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo stopped the clocks in eighth, two positions ahead of world title leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) in 10th.

Australian Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda) had a decent start to his grand prix weekend in 14th overall, 1.704s from Dovizioso, but marginally ahead of teammate Tito Rabat. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was all the way down in 19th.

Thomas Luthi (Garage Plus Interwetten) set the pace in Moto2 ahead of Alex Rins and Johann Zarco, as Aussie Remy Gardner was 27th. In Moto3 Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was quickest, from Enea Bastianini and Fabio Quartararo.