Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo was fastest in opening free practice on Friday for this weekend’s Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.
Lorenzo clocked a fastest lap of one minute 30.047 seconds to hold a 0.348sec gap over defending champion Marc Marquez on a Repsol Honda.
World championship leader Valentino Rossi, Lorenzo’s Movistar Yamaha team-mate, was third quickest 0.525sec down on the Spaniard.
Spain’s Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa was fourth fastest, 0.622secs off the pace.
Eighteen points separate Rossi and Lorenzo in the championship standings with three races left in the season.
Rossi, 36, the seven-time world champion in the premier class, is chasing his first world title since 2009.
Marquez is out of contention for this year’s world title after breaking his left hand last month, leaving him 86 points adrift of Rossi with just 75 points available.