Valencia MotoGP: Marc Marquez ends Friday practice on top for Honda
Marc Marquez once again topped the timesheets after the second free practice session of MotoGP's season ending Valencian Grand Prix, pipping Andrea Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro to the fastest time
Marquez was the first man to dominate the times in the 45-minute session but only after the 21-year-old had repeated his error from first practice, running very wide in the blustery conditions at Turn 1.
The world champion ended the session with a 1m31.454s.
Jorge Lorenzo temporarily put his Yamaha 0.053 seconds quicker than Marquez shortly after the halfway point.
The two-time MotoGP champion would end the session in fourth place, only 0.114s seconds behind Marquez, but separated from him by Dovizioso and Espargaro.
Cal Crutchlow, who had briefly topped the session early on, ended up fifth fastest as the Briton improved by almost a whole second from his morning time.
Dani Pedrosa and Stefan Bradl ended the session in sixth and seventh, with Pedrosa 0.441s slower than Honda team-mate Marquez.
Pol Espargaro finished ahead of Bradley Smith and Valentino Rossi as they rounded out the top 10.
Suzuki's return to grand prix racing suffered a setback when Randy de Puniet, who ended second practice 18th, was forced to climb off his bike with plumes of smoke emitting from the engine with just five minutes of the session remaining.
| Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | Honda | 1m31.454s | - |
| 2 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati | 1m31.558s | 0.104s |
| 3 | Aleix Espargaro | Forward Racing | Forward Yamaha | 1m31.565s | 0.111s |
| 4 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | Yamaha | 1m31.568s | 0.114s |
| 5 | Cal Crutchlow | Ducati | Ducati | 1m31.731s | 0.277s |
| 6 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | Honda | 1m31.895s | 0.441s |
| 7 | Stefan Bradl | LCR | Honda | 1m31.935s | 0.481s |
| 8 | Pol Espargaro | Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1m32.013s | 0.559s |
| 9 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1m32.024s | 0.570s |
| 10 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | Yamaha | 1m32.049s | 0.595s |
| 11 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1m32.194s | 0.740s |
| 12 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | Ducati | 1m32.267s | 0.813s |
| 13 | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m32.486s | 1.032s |
| 14 | Alex de Angelis | Forward Racing | Forward Yamaha | 1m32.562s | 1.108s |
| 15 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m32.689s | 1.235s |
| 16 | Karel Abraham | Cardion AB Motoracing | Honda | 1m32.725s | 1.271s |
| 17 | Scott Redding | Gresini Racing | Honda | 1m32.771s | 1.317s |
| 18 | Randy de Puniet | Suzuki | Suzuki | 1m32.799s | 1.345s |
| 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Racing | Honda | 1m32.860s | 1.406s |
| 20 | Nicky Hayden | Aspar | Honda | 1m33.434s | 1.980s |
| 21 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Aspar | Honda | 1m33.436s | 1.982s |
| 22 | Danilo Petrucci | IodaRacing Project | ART/Aprilia | 1m33.504s | 2.050s |
| 23 | Michael Laverty | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM/Aprilia | 1m33.737s | 2.283s |
| 24 | Broc Parkes | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM/Aprilia | 1m34.106s | 2.652s |
| 25 | Mike Di Meglio | Avintia Racing | Avintia/Kawasaki | 1m34.988s | 3.534s |
Share 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