Ducati rider Jack Miller leads the free practice session of the first session of the Japanese Grand Prix, the sixteenth round of the 2022 season of the MotoGP World Championship.
The Australian set a time of 1.44.509 minutes, ahead of team mate Francesco Panaya by just 0.028 seconds, while Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo was satisfied with just 0.048 seconds in third place.
The session was threatened by rain, but was completely dry despite the clouds, and it is the first time the championship has returned to Japan since 2019, when the 2020-2021 season race was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Quartararo was leading the overall standings for the start of the session, and continued to take pole position when the race controller flashed the rain flags, but luckily the rain was light and it ended quickly.
Pramac Racing rider Johan Zarko dominated the session after using Soft tires, as Honda wildcard Tetsuta Nagashima opened the crash record.
Aprilia rider Alex Espargaro then used soft tires and managed to snatch the lead from Zarco, then Suzuki rider Alex Rins led the session.
Miller then finished the session 4 minutes from the end, ahead of Marc Marquez in second place, followed by Bastianini who slipped off the bike at turn 5 at the last minute.
And the accident record did not end there, as Zarco also slipped off the bike at turn 7, but fortunately none of them were injured.
Fourth place for Alex Espargaro, ahead of Luca Marini in fifth, Marquez in sixth, Paul Espargaro in seventh, Brad Bender in eighth, Miguel Oliveira in ninth and Maverick Vinales in tenth.
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