Aleix Espargaro put in a brilliant and surprise performance at today's opening day of practice at Australia's Phillip Island circuit. In rather cold, yet sunny conditions, the Aprilia rider finished the day a mere .005 faster than current championship leader, Marc Marquez.

Third fastest overall was Andrea Dovizioso, the Ducati rider making sure his rival in the 2017 title fight wasn't too far out of sight.

Fourth was the LCR Honda of Cal Crutchlow, who picked himself up after a disastrous Japanese Grand Prix to finish a tenth behind Espargaro.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales rounded out the top five, a further tenth of a second back, while his teammate, Valentino Rossi, was down in 12th.

โ€œIt was a completely different first day compared to last weekend, everything changed back to normal,โ€ said Yamaha's Massimo Meregalli. โ€œThe final results didnโ€˜t fully reflect our true potential. It was a pity that Maverick crashed halfway through FP2, because Iโ€˜m quite sure that his placement could have been different.โ€

โ€œ He showed good pace and confidence since FP1 and we think we still have room for improvement, even if in general heโ€˜s already quite satisfied about the behaviour of the bike. Despite pain in his right shoulder, Valentino has been able to do two good practice sessions. It was unfortunate that they used the softer option with a setting that wasnโ€˜t quite to Valeโ€˜s liking, which prohibited him from exploiting the full potential of the tyre. We aim to continue todayโ€˜s comfortable groove tomorrow.โ€

GP of Australia โ€“ Classification after Day 1:
1. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'29.225
2. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - 1'29.230 +0.005
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 1'29.322 +0.097
4. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - 1'29.329 +0.104
5. Maverick VIร‘ALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'29.423 +0.198
6. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'29.466 +0.241
7. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'29.604 +0.379
8. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'29.667 +0.442
9. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1'29.702 +0.477
10. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'29.760 +0.535
11. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - 1'29.820 +0.595
12. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'29.977 +0.752
13. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'29.987 +0.762
14. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'30.046 +0.821
15. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'30.085 +0.860
16. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'30.140 +0.915
17. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'30.269 +1.044
18. Loris BAZ Reale Avintia Racing - 1'30.274 +1.049
19. Tito RABAT EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'30.546 +1.321
20. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'30.682 +1.457
21. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - 1'30.777 +1.552
22. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'31.688 +2.463
23. Broc PARKES, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'32.152 +2.927