Suzuki’s Maverick Viñales beat the 2 minute mark to set a 1:59.947 very close to the best lap of the Circuit set by absent Dani Pedrosa in 2015 of 1:59.053. It was only FP3 though, so times will still drop in a certainly exciting qualifying session later today as the competition is pretty close, 8 riders within a second, 14 within 2 seconds and all within 3 seconds in the 5.543 km track (3.46 miles). After his accident in practice in Phillip Island, Dani Pedrosa will be substituted by Hiroshi Ahoyama in the second Honda, Nicky Hayden did a good job in Australia even if the result did not reflect. Another rider who had problems was Ducati’s Andrea Iannone but he finally returned this weekend from his back injury absence and had absolutely no difficulties in finding his pace back.
For full results click here.
