Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) was fastest in Moto2 on Friday at Phillip Island, in a class of his own with a 1m33.310s and over half a second clear of the chasing pack.

Second place belonged to Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) despite a crash in FP2 for the Italian veteran, with Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) completing the top three on the Suter.

Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) made it three chassis in the top five as he kept the KTM a front-runner, with championship leader Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) round out the top five with his lap-time from FP1 despite a run-off.

Rookie of the Year Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) took sixth and shaved half a second off his previous best in the afternoon, ahead of Motegi winner Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS). Championship challenger Tom Lüthi (CarXpert Interwetten) had a day of ups and downs as he crashed in FP2 and failed to improve his pace.

Fabio Quartararo (Pons HP 40) ended day one in P9, with Simone Corsi (Speed Up Racing) completing the top 10 despite a crash. Australia’s Remy Gardner (Tech3 Racing) had a quiet opening day at home, crashing in FP1 and eventually lapping 21st.