What happened in first Motegi MotoGP practice

MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix weekend began with a drizzly and muted opening practice session at Motegi, though the leading riders all managed at least one worthwhile run.

Rain after a quarter of an hour meant the initial times - led by title contenders Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) on 1m45.209s and 1m45.318s respectively - stood as the fastest.

Everyone then stayed in the pits for the majority of the rest of the session waiting to see if the track dried - with a flurry of exploratory laps late on being met with more drizzle and no chance to improve.

With this session not counting for anything, the field had the luxury of sitting most of it out. That won't be the case this afternoon with automatic Q2 places at stake.

VR46's Fabio di Giannantonio and Gresini's Marc Marquez completed an all-Ducati top four, followed by Jack Miller's KTM.