Le Mans MotoGP: Bradley Smith goes quickest for Tech 3 then crashes

Smith had led the way early during the morning's first session but eventually finished 10th.

In second practice he jumped to the top of the times with five minutes remaining, through a 1m33.179s lap.

While he then crashed on his final run in the dying moments - as did his team-mate Pol Espargaro and Suzuki's Aleix Espargaro - he stayed on top, in contrast to the frenetic finish to practice one.

Smith put his own crash down to being distracted by the Suzuki falling ahead of him and then hitting a rock in the run-off as he ran wide, and he gave Espargaro a playful slap on the helmet as they walked back to the paddock together.

Jorge Lorenzo led the way for the bulk of the running on his Yamaha, and eventually finished 0.190 seconds behind Smith in second.

After topping the times in the first session, Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso was third, ahead of Smith's countryman Cal Crutchlow on his LCR Honda.

Just 0.073s split Crutchlow, Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi and the returning Dani Pedrosa between fourth and seventh on the timesheets.

The Espargaro brothers were eighth and ninth, while Maverick Vinales also fell on his Suzuki, midway through the session, but was able to return to the pits and finished with the 12th-fastest time.

PRACTICE TWO TIMES: