The post-season MotoGP tests are always a favourite of ours and especially this year, with Jorge Lorenzo making his Ducati Team debut, while replacement Maverick Vinales made a huge impression aboard the Yamaha for the first time.

Of course, just days following the 2016 finale won by Lorenzo riding the M1, none of the major 2017 factory signings were able to speak about their initial experience at their new homes, but generally it’s been a very positive vibe coming out of Valencia.

Day one is in the books, the Tuesday tests, and Wednesday is obviously still to come. Thankfully for Australians, we’re able to watch hours and hours of the coverage live on Fox Sports well into the evening.

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The big news had to be that Vinales topped the timesheets at the end of the opening day, beneath the race lap record and generally showing very, very competitive laptimes to edge out nine-time world champion teammate Valentino Rossi.

“Maverick made his first kilometres on the Yamaha and, just like we expected, he has taken to the bike very well,” commented Yamaha MotoGP director Massimo Meregalli. “He used today just to get a feel for the YZR-M1.”

Lorenzo was just as impressive on the radically different GP16, setting the third-best lap, just 0.122s from Vinales. He worked with Australia’s two-time champion Casey Stoner throughout the day and appeared almost immediately comfortable on the GP16. He’s intending to ride the GP17 more today.

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Of the other factory teams, Team Suzuki Ecstar successfully welcomed Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins to the fold, as did Aprilia Racing Team Gresini with Aleix Espargaro and Sam Lowes, plus Red Bull KTM finally able to lap with racers Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith. All were satisfied in their own ways at the end of day one.

As for the satellite teams, Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda’s Jack Miller made good headway in 11th, although much of the attention was directed toward Monster Yamaha Tech3 teammates Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger. They were relatively quick and ahead of former Moto2 rival Tito Rabat, so that will be a good match-up to watch.

There was much more going on outside of all that’s mentioned above, so be sure to check out our day one report via this link. And check back tomorrow for a report, times and news from Wednesday’s running.