Dovizioso had a solid first day as pre-race predictions come true that Motegi looks good for the Ducati on paper. The Italian was also on pole position at the track in 2014, and seems to be a contender to take the honour once again in 2016. Viñales had a messier morning session with some run offs, before pulling it all together in FP2 to top timesheets briefly ahead of ending the day in third on combined times.