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
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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 |
1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'56.513 | |
2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'56.589 | 0.076 |
3 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'56.750 | 0.237 |
4 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'57.074 | 0.561 |
5 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'57.078 | 0.565 |
6 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'57.178 | 0.665 |
7 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1'57.202 | 0.689 |
8 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'57.229 | 0.716 |
9 | 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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