Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) rode the fastest wet and dry conditions at Friday's Pramac Generac Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix to dominate the opening day. The 1:28.824 was 0.496 better than second Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) in a dry FP2, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) rounding out the top three.
Wet conditions were not the ideal start to the Australian GP weekend for the MotoGP™ riders and FP1 did not end well for Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT). The Rookie of the Year crashed in Turn 6, leaving him with a large hematoma and a bruise on the top of his leg. The medicine Quartararo took forced him to sit for a dry afternoon. The French should be out for the rest of the week. Viñales was fastest in the wet and almost straight out of the gate in FP2 the Spaniard went straight to work to sit on time. This could be the only dry session of the weekend before the race, so the drivers tried different tire options to get a good idea of ​​what to use on Sunday, if it is dry of course. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) went fastest on the hard and heavy combination, but after 15 minutes Viñales hit almost half a second faster on the medium hard Michelin tires to move the goalposts.
Then a mini-race was played with riders stuck on soft tyres, home hero Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) took second place. With less than 10 to go, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Dovizioso were out of the starting Q2 automatic places, both Italians comfortably jumping into the top ten, although Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) set fast times. However, no one came close enough to drop Viñales and the Yamaha man went even faster. After 0.3 laps, the #12 set first of the weekend and just 1:28 to lead by more than half a second, but Dovi hurt the gap a bit when the checkered flag came out.

So by the end of Friday's game, Viñales will be the man to beat in both wet and dry conditions - a real challenge. Dovizioso was P10 in FP1 but was able to find better pace in the dry to take P2, while Crutchlow is the top Honda in third after P14 in the wet. Petrucci and Miller claim P4 and P5 as the three GP19 cars sit in the top five on a track that doesn't usually suit Desmosedic machines - both drivers comfortably inside the top ten in both situations. Marquez's final flying lap in FP2 was hampered by a collision with teammate Jorge Lorenzo in the final sector as the reigning champion ended the day in P6. Rossi made it 7 wins after finishing P4 in FP1, with "The Doctor" finishing faster than Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia Racing Team Gresin in what could be a decisive FP2 -session. Slots in Q2.

Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had a quick spin at Turn 8 and the Spaniard thankfully walked away relatively unscathed, with Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) crashing in the closing stages of Turn 2 - rider fine.