Jerez MotoGP: Lorenzo on top in FP2, Suzuki airs new wings
Ducati-bound Yamaha MotoGP star Jorge Lorenzo continued his strong start to the Spanish Grand Prix by leading the second free practice session at Jerez.
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Reigning champion Lorenzo topped the 45-minute FP2 session, ahead of Honda’s Marc Marquez by 0.345s.
Aleix Espargaro showed strong form for Suzuki, using anti-wheelie aero winglets to good effect to set the third-fastest time, ahead of FP1 star Hector Barbera’s Ducati and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi.
Story of the session
After Lorenzo topped the morning session on 1m40.270s, Marquez quickly went under that on his second flying lap – 1m40.016s.
Lorenzo was back on 1m40.357s at the time, but improved to 1m40.005s. Marquez then dipped to 1m39.900s, the first sub-1m40s time of the weekend.
Rossi – unusually for him using winglets on his Yamaha – rose up to third early on with 1m40.282s, 0.382s off the pace and just 0.008s faster than this morning’s hero Barbera.
In the closing five minutes, Lorenzo improved to 1m39.957s, but stayed P2, as Barbera eclipsed Rossi’s time for third on 1m40.229s.
Using the medium-compound rear tyre, Lorenzo then grabbed the top spot with 1m39.555s with his second flyer of the final run, 0.345s clear of Marquez – who could not respond.
Suzuki shows strong hand
Suzuki gave a debut to its new aerodynamic winglets in this session, featuring a three-element setup on the front fairing.
Aleix Espargaro tested it, while Maverick Vinales busied himself with back-to-back running using the 2016 chassis and the ‘hybrid’ bike they’ve been using thus far.
Davide Brivio explained: “We were supposed to be testing them on Monday, but we couldn’t make Aleix wait. Wheelieing is really a problem here.”
Vinales suffered a huge wobble through the fast right-hand sweeper, but rose to fifth on his second run on 1m40.448s ahead of teammate Espargaro.
But Aleix jumped up to third on his final lap, a stunning 1m40.093s that was 0.538s off Lorenzo’s pace.
Vinales finished the session sixth, ahead of the first works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso. The Pramac Duke of Scott Redding was eighth, ahead of the second works Honda of Dani Pedrosa and an impressive Eugene Laverty on his two-year-old Aspar Ducati.
Ducati’s Andrea Iannone struggling badly in the first part of the session – as data from winter testing here didn’t correlate to the race weekend. He ended up down in 11th.
Aprilia also handed a debut to aero winglets, with Stefan Bradl 15th quickest.
Loris Baz was a faller right at the end of the session at the final corner. He walked away unhurt.
Practice times:
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha YZR-M1 | 1:39.555 | |
2 | Marc Marquez | Honda RC213V | 1:39.900 | +0.345 |
3 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:40.093 | +0.538 |
4 | Hector Barbera | Ducati GP14 | 1:40.229 | +0.674 |
5 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha YZR-M1 | 1:40.282 | +0.727 |
6 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:40.448 | +0.893 |
7 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP16 | 1:40.737 | +1.182 |
8 | Scott Redding | Ducati GP15 | 1:40.860 | +1.305 |
9 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda RC213V | 1:40.925 | +1.370 |
10 | Eugene Laverty | Ducati GP14 | 1:40.925 | +1.370 |
11 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati GP16 | 1:41.017 | +1.462 |
12 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati GP14 | 1:41.028 | +1.473 |
13 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:41.112 | +1.557 |
14 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha YZR-M1 | 1:41.167 | +1.612 |
15 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:41.178 | +1.623 |
16 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha YZR-M1 | 1:41.287 | +1.732 |
17 | Loris Baz | Ducati GP14 | 1:41.320 | +1.765 |
18 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:41.573 | +2.018 |
19 | Michele Pirro | Ducati GP15 | 1:41.841 | +2.286 |
20 | Jack Miller | Honda RC213V | 1:41.904 | +2.349 |
21 | Tito Rabat | Honda RC213V | 1:42.230 | +2.675 |
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