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Practice report

Brno MotoGP: Marquez beats Lorenzo, then crashes

Marc Marquez narrowly eclipsed Jorge Lorenzo to lead the way in second practice for the Czech Grand Prix, only to crash at the end of an incident-filled session.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing and Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Polesitter Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing and Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team
Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki MotoGP

There was no shortage of big names hitting the deck at Brno, with points leader Valentino Rossi losing the front end of his works Yamaha at Turn 13 shortly after setting the early pace with a 1m57.754s.

Subsequent replays showed Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who crashed just ahead at the final corner of the circuit, Turn 14, appearing to lay down oil - leading to his accident and catching out Rossi just behind.

While Rossi made it back to the pits, Pedrosa was ruled out of the session as a result of a possible ankle injury sustained in the crash.

By this stage, Marquez had assumed the top spot on a 1m56.513s - just 0.014s adrift of Lorenzo's best time from first practice - and would remain there for the duration, with most riders electing to focus on long-run pace thereafter.

But the defending champion, returning to the track late on having completed his race simulation early in the sessino, lost the front end of his works RC213V at Turn 7 in the final minute of the session.

Lorenzo's early effort of 1m56.589s stood as the second quickest time of the session, with Andrea Iannone taking the improved Ducati to third, 0.237s off the pace.

Rossi, riding his number two bike after his earlier incident, was half a second off the pace in fourth, just four thousandths clear of Tech 3's Pol Espargaro, who made a late jump to fifth as the chequered flag dropped.

That demoted the second Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso to sixth, the Italian suffering a low-side crash at Turn 5 in the final 10 minutes, ahead of Aleix Espargaro on the best of the Suzukis and Cal Crutchlow's LCR Honda.

Bradley Smith on the second Tech 3 machine was another to crash late on, also at Turn 5, setting the ninth fastest time ahead of Pramac Ducati man Yonny Hernandez.

Practice times:

Pos. Rider Bike Time Gap
Marc Marquez Honda 1'56.513  
Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1'56.589 0.076
Andrea Iannone Ducati 1'56.750 0.237
Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'57.074 0.561
Pol Espargaro Yamaha 1'57.078 0.565
Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1'57.178 0.665
Aleix Espargaro Suzuki 1'57.202 0.689
Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'57.229 0.716
Bradley Smith Yamaha 1'57.494 0.981
10  Yonny Hernandez Ducati 1'57.544 1.031
11  Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1'57.575 1.062
12  Maverick Vinales Suzuki 1'57.607 1.094
13  Hector Barbera Ducati 1'57.718 1.205
14  Scott Redding Honda 1'57.860 1.347
15  Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1'58.484 1.971
16  Jack Miller Honda 1'58.512 1.999
17  Dani Pedrosa Honda 1'58.631 2.118
18  Loris Baz Yamaha Forward 1'58.678 2.165
19  Nicky Hayden Honda 1'58.812 2.299
20  Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1'59.120 2.607
21  Eugene Laverty Honda 1'59.305 2.792
22  Mike Di Meglio Ducati 1'59.482 2.969
23  Alex de Angelis ART/Aprilia 1'59.680 3.167
24  Claudio Corti Yamaha Forward 2'00.781 4.268
25  Karel Abraham Honda 2'01.261 4.748

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