Valentino Rossi faces a 0.823s gap to team-mate and title rival Jorge Lorenzo after day one of the Japanese MotoGP. Motegi marked the seventh time in a row that Rossi has begun a grand prix weekend slower than Lorenzo, the Spaniard in turn silencing speculation over his fitness after hurting his shoulder last weekend. Rossi, just 14 points ahead of Lorenzo with four rounds to go, dropped from third (+0.4s) in morning practice to eighth in the afternoon. The Movistar Yamaha riders look more closely matched for race pace, albeit with Lorenzo still clearly ahead. “This morning was not so bad and also in the afternoon I felt quite good with the harder tyre,” said Rossi, who is losing most...
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