MotoGP Mandalika Test: Family affair as Espargaró brothers lock out Friday

MotoGP hit the Mandalika Street Circuit in Indonesia on Friday for the first of three official test days.

Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaró headed the times thanks to a 1’32.466 on his penultimate lap of the evening as testing concluded at 17:45 local time.

A delay to proceedings initially saw a red flag on Friday morning due to overnight rain on a very green track creating the need for a clean up operation. The excessively dirty track and inclement weather adding extra elements to the inaugural session in Indonesia as the 24-strong grid discovered the new layout.

Espargaró was trailed by elder brother Aleix at the top of the standings, as the Aprilia rider continued his strong preseason running on the updated RS-GP22. Less than half a second split the brothers with KTM’s Brad Binder just 0.006s adrift of second place.

Suzuki’s Alex Rins built on his Sepang improvement to sit fourth at the close of the opening day on Lombok Island with a 1’33.0 effort while reigning MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo completed the top five, half a tenth back.

Jack Miller was at the top with less than an hour to go but as the clock ticked down the fast laps began to register, leaving the Ducati man sixth overall and six-tenths adrift of the fastest lap.

Maverick Viñales proved once again he was firmly getting to grips with the RS-GP 22 as he tailed the Yamaha and Ducati in seventh with Joan Mir, Andrea Dovizioso and mid-afternoon leader Jorge Martin rounding out the top ten.

With one-second covering the top 12, LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and the second Monster Energy Yamaha of Franky Morbidelli completed the set ahead of an incredibly busy Pramac’s Johann Zarco - having dispatched 96 laps of the 4.3km circuit - and leading rookie Fabio Di