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By the time the opening day of play was over at the Mugello circuit in Italy, it was Cal Crutchlow at the top of the timesheets by a mere two hundredths of a second over FP1's fastest man, home hero Andrea Dovizioso.

The Italian topped the timesheets in the morning's FP1 run with a time of 1'47.394 and was leading FP2 until a few minutes before the end, when his time was bettered by Crutchlow by just 29 thousandths of a second

“We have started the weekend really well, much better than I expected, and it's always important to start strongly in a race weekend,” Dovi said. “My feeling is good and we were able to keep a good pace even in the heat of the afternoon, but we were not as quick as we would have liked mid-corner, and this will be where we will focus our work. In any case we are really competitive, and today we also managed to try all the tyres available because it was important to have feedback for tomorrow and for the race.”

Third quickest for the day was Tech 3 rider, Jonas Folger, who ended his first day in the Tuscan Hills as the top Yamaha and merely 0.178 from the leading time.

“I am really happy with today’s result and it was a super way to begin the Mugello round,” he said. “Of course, I am satisfied with my lap time, but I am even more pleased because I am comfortable on the YZR-M1 and I already feel confident at this track even though it’s my first time here on a MotoGP bike. There is a big difference between the soft and hard tyres on this asphalt, so we tried the harder compound for a long time before eventually switching over at the end. Tomorrow we have to see how far we can go on the softer tyre because Johann did a lot of laps with this option and he was strong, so therefore, it could be a good option for the race. Anyway, we had a great day and I am looking forward to getting back on the track.”

Fourth was Wild Card entry for Ducati, Michele Pirro, who had a very positive first day for the Italian team…

It was a positive day for me, because we managed to work well both this morning and this afternoon and we were also quick with used tyres. Unfortunately we are still struggling a bit in the third sector and so we have to focus on improving this aspect. I want to thank the team because they have given me a very competitive bike, and tomorrow we will try and take the Desmosedici as far to the front as possible.”

Fifth fastest overall was Maverick Vinales, who finished well ahead of his championship winning teammate, Valentino Rossi, who was left languishing down in 14th place. Vinales suffered a crash in FP2, losing valuable track time, while Rossi took baby steps on track as he nursed his injuries from a training accident last week.

“Though it's not clearly reflected in today's time sheets, actually we had quite a good start to the weekend. Maverick showed he has a great race pace this morning in FP1,” said Yamaha's Massimo Meregalli. “ It was unfortunate that a fall in FP2 prohibited him from bettering his fastest lap from the morning, because he lost some valuable track time.”

“Still, given the fact that he set this morning's time on the medium compound, we know that his fifth place in the combined times is only a vague indication of his form out on track. Today, Valentino made his first kilometres on the bike since his motocross incident. He used some light painkillers for FP2 and managed to make some good progress in the afternoon. He has surprised all of us with his quick recovery and his speed on the track in both sessions. I'm sure tomorrow hell feel even better both physically and on the bike.”

The firs tHonda was Dani Pedrosa in seventh while teammate Marc Marquez was 13th.

  1. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - 1'47.365 16
    2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 1'47.394 + 0.029
    3. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'47.543 +0.178
    4. Michele PIRRO, Ducati Team - 1'47.595 + 0.230
    5. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'47.669 +0.304
    6. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'47.674 + 0.309
    7. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1'47.699 +0.334
    8. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - 1'47.708 + 0.343
    9. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'47.728 +0.363
    10. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - 1'47.747 +0.382
    11. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'47.807 +0.442
    12. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'47.950 +0.585
    13. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - 1'47.980 + 0.615
    14. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'48.000 +0.635
    15. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'48.111 +0.746
    16. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'48.129 +0.764
    17. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'48.560 +1.195
    18. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'48.664 +1.299
    19. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing - 1'48.751 +1.386
    20. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'48.842 +1.477
    21. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'48.925 +1.560
    22. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'49.524 +2.159
    23. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'49.640 +2.275
    24. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'50.054 +2.689