Sepang MotoGP: Ivan Silva leads as weather spoils practice two
Ivan Silva was the surprise pacesetter in the second MotoGP practice session at Sepang as tricky conditions restricted running and kept the morning's fastest riders in the garage
Only 13 riders ended up setting times, among them the four Ducati prototypes and the two satellite Hondas.
The rest of the frontrunners, including the fastest six riders from the morning session, all put in sighting laps and then sat out the session, with conditions too wet for slicks and too dry for wets.
For much of the session times therefore did not change, leaving Gresini's Alvaro Bautista at the top, fractions ahead of Valentino Rossi.
Six minutes from the flag however slicks suddenly yielded massive gains, allowing those with the inclination the chance to go out and cut swathes from the previous bests.
While the shift in conditions still came too late for the prototype riders, there were plenty of CRT riders ready to head out, with Silva leading the way.
Aspar's Randy de Puniet and Speed Master's Roberto Rolfo followed suit and helped lower the benchmark, before Silva settled matters with a 2m10.602s.
That was more than a second clear of Gresini's Michele Pirro, de Puniet and Rolfo, and over five seconds faster than Karel Abraham on the leading prototype machine.
Bautista and Rossi, neither of whom ventured out on slicks, finished sixth and seventh, ahead of Aleix Espargaro, Nicky Hayden, James Ellison and Stefan Bradl.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Ivan Silva Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m10.602s 2. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 2m12.043s + 1.441s 3. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 2m12.046s + 1.444s 4. Roberto Rolfo Speed Master Aprilia 2m13.216s + 2.614s 5. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 2m16.143s + 5.541s 6. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 2m17.136s + 6.534s 7. Valentino Rossi Ducati 2m17.173s + 6.571s 8. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 2m17.429s + 6.827s 9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2m17.804s + 7.202s 10. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 2m18.478s + 7.876s 11. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m19.085s + 8.483s 12. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 2m21.113s + 10.511s 13. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 2m26.857s + 16.255s Dani Pedrosa Honda - - Casey Stoner Honda - - Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha - - Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha - - Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha - - Ben Spies Yamaha - - Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki - - Danilo Petrucci Ioda Suter-BMW - -
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