Assen MotoGP: Iannone leads Ducati 1-2 in first practice
Andrea Iannone ended the first practice session for the Dutch TT at Assen on top, leading factory Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso by two tenths of a second.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Iannone - who starts this weekend's race from the back of the grid after his collision with Jorge Lorenzo in Barcelona - was in control for much of the session, becoming the first rider to beneath the 1m35 to lead the way after the first runs on a 1m34.939s on a slightly damp track.
The Italian was briefly toppled by Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales, who set a 1m34.773s just beyond the halfway point of the session, but Iannone soon retook control of the timesheets with a 1m34.655s.
And amid a late flurry of improvements that saw Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci briefly annex the top spot, Iannone registered a further improvement to end the session with a best time of 1m34.349s, just 0.012s shy of the equivalent FP1 benchmark from last season.
Dovizioso and Pol Espargaro (Tech 3 Yamaha) both jumped to second and third moments after Iannone set his best time, ending up 0.226s and 0.300s off the pace respectively.
Just 0.011s behind Espargaro, Pramac teammates Petrucci and Scott Redding ended up on identical times in fourth and fifth places, making it four Ducati riders in the top five.
Jorge Lorenzo was best of the the Yamaha contingent in sixth places, 0.373s off the pace, narrowly ahead of factory teammate Valentino Rossi, who ended 0.409s down on compatriot Iannone.
Vinales found himself shuffled down to eighth in the closing stages, ahead of Bradley Smith on the second Tech 3 Yamaha and another satellite Ducati rider, Hector Barbera.
It was a miserable session for Honda, which failed to get any of its riders inside the top 10. Marc Marquez was closest to doing so, finishing just 0.018s behind Barbera in 11th place.
LCR rider Cal Crutchlow and the second Repsol machine of Dani Pedrosa were just behind, the top 13 all being split by less than a second.
First practice results:
Pos | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'34.349 | |
2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'34.575 | 0.226 |
3 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'34.649 | 0.300 |
4 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'34.660 | 0.311 |
5 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'34.660 | 0.311 |
6 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'34.722 | 0.373 |
7 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'34.758 | 0.409 |
8 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki | 1'34.759 | 0.410 |
9 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | 1'34.918 | 0.569 |
10 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'34.954 | 0.605 |
11 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'34.972 | 0.623 |
12 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'35.026 | 0.677 |
13 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'35.294 | 0.945 |
14 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1'35.365 | 1.016 |
15 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1'35.530 | 1.181 |
16 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | 1'35.672 | 1.323 |
17 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Ducati | 1'35.989 | 1.640 |
18 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'36.019 | 1.670 |
19 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1'36.188 | 1.839 |
20 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | 1'36.284 | 1.935 |
21 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 1'37.850 | 3.501 |
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