LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow made an encouraging start to the Japanese Grand Prix as he posted the second fastest time on Friday. The 16th round of this year’s MotoGP World Championship got underway in dry conditions at the Twin Ring in Motegi and Crutchlow was once again on the pace as he emerged as the leading Honda rider on the opening day of HRC’s home race.
#35 Cal Crutchlow – 2nd (1’45.463)
“Today was a good day, we felt quite comfortable in FP1. This afternoon we thought the risk outweighed the reward and we didn’t enter the circuit for FP2 because we think the forecast for the rest of the weekend looks dry. We’ll continue to work over the night with the team, and with HRC, and we look forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow in qualifying.”
Results FP1
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’45.358 |
| 2 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’45.463 |
| 3 | Johann ZARCO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’45.483 |
| 4 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’45.498 |
| 5 | Maverick VIÑALES | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’45.640 |
| 6 | Andrea IANNONE | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’46.030 |
| 7 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Angel Nieto Team | 1’46.210 |
| 8 | Jack MILLER | Alma Pramac Racing | 1’46.265 |
| 9 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’46.329 |
| 10 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’46.526 |
| 11 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | 1’46.568 |
| 12 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’46.854 |
| 13 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’46.856 |
| 14 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’46.859 |
| 15 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing | 1’46.872 |
| 16 | Xavier SIMEON | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’46.998 |
| 17 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Alma Pramac Racing | 1’47.054 |
| 18 | Bradley SMITH | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’47.137 |
| 19 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’47.187 |
| 20 | Franco MORBIDELLI | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’47.428 |
| 21 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’47.537 |
| 22 | Jordi TORRES | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’47.665 |
| 23 | Karel ABRAHAM | Angel Nieto Team | 1’47.716 |
| 24 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’47.726 |
| 25 | Thomas LUTHI | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’47.833 |
| 26 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati Team |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc