Petrucci tops rain-hit opening day at Phillip Island

Octo Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci has topped the opening day of testing at Phillip Island, after making the most of brief spells of dry track at the rain-hit Australian circuit.

With showers on and off all day long, it was only in a brief flurry of activity late in the day that Petrucci, who took a wet debut podium at Silverstone last year, was able to go top of the time sheets, before backing up his performance with a series of laps right at the end of the day.

However, he wasn’t the only rider able to improve right at the end, with Maverick Vinales and Bradley Smith also sneaking in fast laps in the dying stages of the day to demote Scott Redding on the second Pramac bike to fourth.

Cal Crutchlow was also able to improve late in the day to take fifth place from Valentino Rossi.

However, with conditions changing throughout the day, many riders decided not to push hard for a lap time, with Marc Marquez back in twelfth and Jorge Lorenzo sixteenth, while Andrea Dovizioso failed to complete a flying lap all day.