MOTOGP: Vinales tops testing on Yamaha debut

Maverick Vinales and Jorge Lorenzo finished their opening days of MotoGP testing with Yamaha and Ducati first and third fastest at Valencia.

Vinales' new teammate Valentino Rossi was the quickest rider of the morning, his program including trying a 2017 version of the Japanese manufacturer's M1.

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Rossi was on top with a 1m30.950s when he crashed at Turn 10 at 1:30pm local time. The Italian rider returned to the track about two hours later, with 90 minutes remaining, as Vinales moved to the top.

The former Suzuki rider adapted quickly to his new surroundings, and was in the top five all day before jumping to the top.

With a 1m30.930s, Vinales stayed on top for the balance of the session, pipping Rossi by 0.020s seconds.

Lorenzo was the first rider to go on track on Tuesday morning, and spent the bulk of the day in the bottom half of the top 10 as he logged 39 laps on the 2016 Ducati. With 45 minutes to go, he improved from 10th to ninth, and then the next time around recorded a 1m31.052s, 0.122s slower than Vinales.

Lorenzo went out in the final quarter of an hour, but did not improve, moving his lap tally to 60 for the day.

World champion Marc Marquez spent more time on Honda's 2017 challenger and wound up fourth fastest, while Andrea Dovizoso and Cal Crutchlow improved entering the final 30 minutes to finish fifth and sixth.

Dovizoso recorded his fastest time on the 2017 Ducati, having been up through the first two sectors on two consecutive laps, while Crutchlow tried a range of new items from Honda on his LCR satellite bike.

Andrea Iannone was in action for Suzuki for the first time and finished seventh, but his running was interrupted by a heavy crash at Turn 10 with 75 minutes to go.

A host of riders crashed towards the end of the day as temperatures started to fall, with Rossi having been the only rider to fall until that point.

Turn 10 was the main location, accounting for KTM's Pol Espargaro, and the Suzukis of Iannone and test rider Takuya Tsuda within 25 minutes of each other. Crutchlow and Aprilia rookie Sam Lowes both fell at Turn 14, while Loris Baz crashed at Turn 6.

Scott Redding was the top satellite rider for Pramac Ducati in ninth, ahead of Avintia Ducati's Hector Barbera - both now on 2016 Desmosedicis - while Dani Pedrosa completed the top 10 on his factory Honda.

Jonas Folger pipped Tech3 Yamaha team-mate Johann Zarco to be the best of the four rookies in the field, the pair 16th and 17th, with Suzuki's Alex Rins 21st and Lowes 24th.

KTM recruits Espargaro and Bradley Smith finished the day 19th and 20th fastest, Espargaro 1.683s slower than the benchmark set by Vinales.

A total of 26 riders set times, with Suzuki fielding Tsuda and now-former Aspar Ducati rider Eugene Laverty starting his Aprilia test program.

Laverty joined the list of riders to crash at Turn 10 with four minutes remaining.

Rossi protege Francesco Bagnaia turned nine laps with Aspar in the morning, as his reward for winning a pair of Moto3 races in 2016 and finished at the foot of the times.

VALENCIA DAY ONE TEST TIMES

Originally on Autosport.com