MotoGP Japanese GP: Miller fastest in only Friday practice

Ducati Lenovo’s Jack Miller was the fastest man on track as the Australian rider went to the top of the timing boards in MotoGP’s only practice session, on Friday, ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

How first practice unfolded…

With the risk of rain on the horizon, the field of filtered out onto the Japanese Motegi circuit. As a result, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins was the first to set a lap time on the board but the Spanish driver was forced to quickly return to the pits after his bike suffered minor damage on its underbody.

After the first set of timed laps, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo set the fastest time but this was soon beaten by the likes of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo) and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) who went first, second and third respectively.

Despite this, Quartararo quickly returned to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:46.072, with one-hour and four minutes left to go – equipped with a soft compound front tyre and medium rear.

As the session reached the one-hour mark, Miller jumped to the top of the timing board with a 1:45.903 as Rins jumped up to second place. But it wasn’t long until the Monster Energy rider returned to the top of the timing board as he secured the new fastest time by nearly one-tenth of a second.

With just under 45 minutes left to go, rain had began to fall and forced the marshals to wave the red-crossed rain flags.

Although the weather looked to hamper track times, with just over half-an-hour to go, Zarco was still able to improve his time and jump to the top of the timing sheet with a 1:45.309. The Frenchman was quickly joined by Rins who secured the second fastest time.

HRC Team’s Tetsuta Nagashima became the first rider to crash out in the session as he ran wide on the exit of turn 11 and found himself in the gravel trap. The HRC’s bike had beached itself in the gravel but the Japanese rider was able to quickly return to the pits.

However, the Prima rider was soon beaten by the likes of Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Esparagaro – but Zarco immediately bounced back to the top with a 1:45.210.

10 minutes later, with 20 minutes remaining on the only session of the day, Quartararo jumped to the top of the timing board with a 1:45.029. This demoted Zarco and Esparagaro down to second and third respectively, on the time sheets.

However, Enea Bastianini made his first appearance – of the session – at the top of the leaderboard as he became the first rider to break the 1:44 mark with a quick 1:44.978 lap.

In the dying minutes of the session, a handful of drivers improved their lap times and jumped to the top of the timing board. With three minutes to go, Miller set the fastest time with a 1:44.509.

With only a handful of minutes left to go, three riders crashed out: Bastianini and Darryn Binder (WithU Yamaha) crashed at turn five while Zarco found the gravel at turn seven.

The Italian broke early into turn five and slipped off his bike as it slid across the track and both himself, and his bike, found their way into the gravel trap. Whereas for Binder, the South African was able to stay away from the gravel while his bike wasn’t so lucky, and slid across the trap.

For Zarco, the French rider raced into turn seven but his front tyre went from underneath him and the bike crashed into the gravel.

That’s it for the article: MotoGP Japanese GP: Miller fastest in only Friday practice! Who is your early contender for pole position tomorrow? Let us know in the comments!

Read more MotoGP here:

• MotoGP Japan GP: Preview
• Moto2 AragonGP: Acosta heads all-Spanish podium
• Spanish Catalan Grand Prix: Celestino Vietti wins on last lap
• American Grand Prix: Tony Arbolino wins in crash filled race
• Argentinian Grand Prix: Sergio Garcia wins after final corner overtake

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.