Jonas Folger edged out newly crowned Moto3 World Champion Sandro Cortese to finish Friday Practice on top at Phillip Island. The German duo topped a practice session each but Folger would set the quickest time overall, a quarter of a second ahead of Cortese and the returning Maverick Vinales.
Vinales was the source of much attention this morning following his much-publicised walk-out in Malaysia and the Spaniard was straight on the pace, going fourth in the opening session behind the Red Bull Ajo KTMs of Cortese and Danny Kent and his rival for second in the championship, Luis Salom.
Cortese looked in charge of the afternoon session as well until Folger sneaked ahead in the dying seconds, clocking a 1:39.213. Vinales got himself on terms with Cortese with his penultimate lap of the day with a half-second gap separating the top three from the rest of the pack.
After his strong morning performance, Danny Kent finished in the top four once again in FP2, albeit eight tenths down on Folger, with Romano Fenati taking fifth ahead of the star of last weekend, Zulfahmi Khairuddin. Jakub Kornfeil ended the day in seventh ahead of Efren Vazquez and Alberto Moncayo with the top ten rounded out by Louis Rossi.
Alex Marquez, younger brother of the Moto2 champion-elect Marc, had a scare in the afternoon with a heavy crash but walked away unhurt. Danny Webb had a torrid time too on his Mahindra, only taking it for six laps all day. Webb finished 32nd, seven places behind John McPhee and just ahead of wildcard debutant Sam Clarke.
 Moto3 AirAsia Australian Grand Prix: Combined Friday Practice Classification |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Motorcycle | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 |  Jonas Folger |
Kalex KTM | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | 1:39.213 |
| 2 | Sandro Cortese |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +0.232 |
| 3 |  Maverick Vinales |
FTR Honda | Blusens Avintia | +0.282 |
| 4 |  Danny Kent |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +0.833 |
| 5 |  Romano Fenati |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +1.054 |
| 6 |  Zulfahmi Khairuddin |
KTM | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | +1.112 |
| 7 |  Jakub Kornfeil |
FTR Honda | Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta | +1.156 |
| 8 | Efren Vazquez |
FTR Honda | JHK t-shirt Laglisse | +1.166 |
| 9 | Alberto Moncayo |
FTR Honda | Andalucía JHK t-shirt Laglisse | +1.198 |
| 10 |  Louis Rossi |
FTR Honda | Racing Team Germany | +1.249 |
| 11 | Luis Salom |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +1.252 |
| 12 | Alessandro Tonucci |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +1.412 |
| 13 | Adrian Martin |
FTR Honda | JHK t-shirt Laglisse | +1.413 |
| 14 | Isaac Vinales |
FTR Honda | Ongetta-Centro Seta | +1.467 |
| 15 | Alex Rins |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +1.527 |
| 16 |  Niklas Ajo |
KTM | TT Motion Events Racing | +1.645 |
| 17 |  Miguel Oliveira |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +1.708 |
| 18 | Jack Miller |
Honda | Caretta Technology | +1.753 |
| 19 | Niccolo Antonelli |
FTR Honda | San Carlo Gresini Moto3 | +2.149 |
| 20 | Alan Techer |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +2.288 |
| 21 | Arthur Sissis |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +2.300 |
| 22 |  Brad Binder |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +3.028 |
| 23 | Alex Marquez |
Suter Honda | Ambrogio Next Racing | +3.059 |
| 24 | Armando Pontone |
Ioda | IodaRacing Project | +3.193 |
| 25 | John McPhee |
KRP Honda | Caretta Technology | +3.326 |
| 26 | Josep Rodriguez |
FGR Honda | Moto FGR | +3.537 |
| 27 |  Kenta Fujii |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +3.708 |
| 28 |  Giulian Pedone |
Suter Honda | Ambrogio Next Racing | +3.918 |
| 29 | Luca Amato |
Kalex KTM | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | +4.540 |
| 30 | Toni Finsterbusch |
Honda | Cresto Guide MZ Racing | +4.592 |
| 31 | Lincoln Gilding (W) |
Honda | K1 Racing | +4.858 |
| 32 | Danny Webb |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +5.876 |
| 33 | Sam Clarke (W) |
Honda | Fastline GP Racing | +6.567 |
| 34 | Riccardo Moretti |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +9.941 |
