Jorge Lorenzo flies in second Catalunya Grand Prix practice
Jorge Lorenzo set the fastest ever time recorded on a MotoGP bike at Catalunya to deny Alvaro Bautista what would have been a surprise top spot in second practice
In searing temperatures several riders elected to fit soft rubber to their bikes in the final minutes, leading to a flurry of late improvements and a jumbled order in which reigning champion Casey Stoner finished just 10th fastest.
Four minutes from the end Bautista (Gresini Honda) set a new record lap at the Catalan track, but his spell at the top of the charts proved fleeting as Lorenzo - quickest for much of the session when the riders were on the harder option tyre - lowered the benchmark to a 1m42.099s on his Yamaha.
That was comfortably faster than the previous best, a 1m42.413s set by Marco Simoncelli during qualifying for last year's grand prix.
Bautista ended the session second fastest, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha pair Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso, both of whom went out on soft rubber in the final minutes.
The Pramac Ducati of Hector Barbera was a surprise fifth ahead of Yamaha's Ben Spies, who had gone fastest with 13 minutes remaining.
Dani Pedrosa was the fastest works Honda rider in seventh, just under eight tenths down on Lorenzo. LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden's Ducati split the Spaniard and team-mate Stoner.
Karel Abraham's Cardion Ducati finished 11th fastest ahead of Valentino Rossi's works counterpart, the Italian 1.4s off the overall pace and just under five tenths slower than Hayden.
Aspar's Aleix Espargaro was the fastest CRT rider in 13th. As was the case in first practice however the high-speed nature of the Catalunya circuit led to a clear gap between the CRT and prototype bikes, Espargaro finishing 1.2s down on Rossi.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m42.099s 2. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m42.306s + 0.207s 3. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m42.447s + 0.348s 4. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m42.592s + 0.493s 5. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m42.639s + 0.540s 6. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m42.802s + 0.703s 7. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m42.870s + 0.771s 8. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m42.943s + 0.844s 9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m43.057s + 0.958s 10. Casey Stoner Honda 1m43.134s + 1.035s 11. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m43.341s + 1.242s 12. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m43.538s + 1.439s 13. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m44.738s + 2.639s 14. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m44.771s + 2.672s 15. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m45.631s + 3.532s 16. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m45.868s + 3.769s 17. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m46.450s + 4.351s 18. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m46.500s + 4.401s 19. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m46.503s + 4.404s 20. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 1m46.836s + 4.737s 21. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 1m47.436s + 5.337s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments