Sandro Cortese got his first session of free practice as Moto3 World Champion off to a strong start, ending a dry but windy practice on Friday morning on top of the timesheets. The German had a comfortable lead over his Red Bull KTM teammate, Cortese faster than Danny Kent by over four tenths of a second. Mapfre Aspar's Jonas Folger took 3rd, finishing ahead of Maverick Viñales, the FTR Honda rider over 1.1 seconds behind Cortese in 4th. The return of the prodigal Viñales had been made possibe after the young Spaniard had issued a humbling retraction and apology for his withdrawal at Sepang, first in a press release, and later in person in a press conference at Phillip Island on Friday morning.
Results:
