Buriram MotoGP test: Cal Crutchlow fastest on day one for LCR Honda

LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow edged out Suzuki's Alex Rins to top the opening day of MotoGP's second pre-season test of the year in Thailand.

On MotoGP's first-ever visit to the Buriram circuit - which will play host to the inaugural Thailand Grand Prix later this year - Crutchlow proved the benchmark, setting a 1m30.797s with a little under 40 minutes to go despite suffering a crash earlier in the day.

It was works Honda man Marc Marquez that led the way for the bulk of Friday's running, cementing his position at the top of the timesheets with a 1m30.912s just after midday, and that time wasn't challenged until a flurry of late improvements came in the final hour.

Besides Crutchlow, the only other man to beat Marquez was Rins, who leapt from fourth to second with a time of 1m30.809s aboard the Suzuki.

Andrea Dovizioso, second behind Marquez for much of the day, was fourth on the best of the Ducatis, just a tenth-and-a-half slower than Crutchlow.

Dovizioso trialled a new type of aerodynamic fairing for the first time, while works team-mate Jorge Lorenzo - who was 10th-fastest - had his own variant to sample.

A late improvement by Dani Pedrosa on the second works Honda made it three Hondas in the top five, ahead of Pramac Ducati pair Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller.

Valentino Rossi was top Yamaha in eighth, 0.392 seconds off the pace, ahead of the second Suzuki of Andrea Iannone and Lorenzo.

Maverick Vinales could do no better than 11th, fractionally ahead of Tech3 Yamaha man Johann Zarco.

Aleix Espargaro was best of the Aprilias in 15th, while Bradley Smith led the charge for KTM in 20th in the absence of team-mate Pol Espargaro.

KTM tester Mika Kallio, deputising for Espargaro, had his day cut short by a major high-side and was taken to the medical centre for checks, finishing up 23rd.

In his first-ever MotoGP outing, Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin - who is in line for Jonas Folger's vacant seat at Tech3 - was 24th and last, 2.368s off the pace.

Friday test times

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	Honda	1m30.797s	-	70
2	Alex Rins	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m30.809s	0.012s	70
3	Marc Marquez	Honda	Honda	1m30.912s	0.115s	78
4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Ducati	1m30.945s	0.148s	60
5	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	Honda	1m30.960s	0.163s	75
6	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	Ducati	1m31.003s	0.206s	74
7	Jack Miller	Pramac Ducati	Ducati	1m31.044s	0.247s	83
8	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m31.189s	0.392s	74
9	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m31.235s	0.438s	78
10	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	Ducati	1m31.246s	0.449s	64
11	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m31.294s	0.497s	70
12	Johann Zarco	Tech3 Yamaha	Yamaha	1m31.305s	0.508s	67
13	Tito Rabat	Avintia Ducati	Ducati	1m31.523s	0.726s	85
14	Alvaro Bautista	Aspar Ducati	Ducati	1m31.525s	0.728s	84
15	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	Aprilia	1m31.662s	0.865s	62
16	Scott Redding	Aprilia	Aprilia	1m31.685s	0.888s	59
17	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda	Honda	1m31.692s	0.895s	87
18	Karel Abraham	Aspar Ducati	Ducati	1m31.698s	0.901s	82
19	Franco Morbidelli	MVDS Honda	Honda	1m31.729s	0.932s	72
20	Bradley Smith	KTM	KTM	1m31.741s	0.944s	67
21	Thomas Luthi	MVDS Honda	Honda	1m32.716s	1.919s	79
22	Xavier Simeon	Avintia Ducati	Ducati	1m32.720s	1.923s	50
23	Mika Kallio	KTM	KTM	1m32.749s	1.952s	48
24	Hafizh Syahrin	Tech3 Yamaha	Yamaha	1m33.165s	2.368s	70