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Practice report

Motegi MotoGP: Lorenzo heads Dovizioso and Vinales in crash-filled FP2

Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo led the way in second free practice at Motegi, narrowly besting Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales in an incident-filled session.

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team
Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team
Maverick Viñales, Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

The Spaniard took over at the top after the chequered flag, leading a practice run that featured serious-looking crashes for Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Aspar's Eugene Laverty.

At the start of the session, Lorenzo strung together three flying laps to maintain P1, eventually ending up at a 1m46.111s, as teammate Valentino Rossi had to come in for a loose dummy fuel-tank cover on his Yamaha YZR-M1.

Lorenzo's stint out front was short-lived as Andrea Dovizioso posted a 1m45.903s, coming up a tenth and a half short of his FP1 benchmark.

With 10 minutes complete, there was a new best lap of the weekend, however, and it came courtesy of championship leader Marc Marquez, the Spaniard recording a 1m45.744s and then coming up just 0.011s short of that with a subsequent effort.

Over the first half of the session, only Marquez, Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro had dipped into the 1m45s margin, with Lorenzo joining them at halfway point.

And shortly after Marquez had suffered a big moment at Turn 1, just narrowly hanging on to his bike, Dovizioso was back to the top by 0.007s.

In the closing minutes, the top riders bolted on new tyres for a last-gasp FP2 shootout - and crashing followed immediately.

First, Marquez had a minor accident at the hairpin Turn 10, going down at no speed at all and quickly picking up his bike.

And Marquez's mini-crash would end up in stark contrast to a massive shunt for teammate Pedrosa, who was launched high in the air off his Honda at Turn 11, suffering what looked like a seriously painful landing even though he would manage to quickly get back on his feet.

Laverty followed seconds after, with a big crash at Turn 6 that left the Northern Irishman conscious but unable to walk off the accident and stretchered off the site as a result.

Amid all that, Rossi - who had remained in the lower half of the top 10 for most of the session - took P1 with a 1m45.684s.

Dovizioso one-upped his compatriot at 1m45.489s, before Vinales surged to a 1m45.248s.

But Lorenzo would get the final word, the reigning champion posting a 1m45.151s after the chequered flag that neither Dovizioso, nor Vinales could match on their final timed laps.

The duo made up the top three, with Marquez recovering to fourth, 0.152s down on Lorenzo.

Cal Crutchlow was fifth, the gap between him and Marquez bigger than that between Marquez and the session leader.

Aleix Espargaro wound up sixth, ahead of Rossi, Danilo Petrucci, Pedrosa and Pol Espargaro, who had crashed earlier in the session.

Free practice 2 results

Pos.#RiderBikeLapsTimeGap
1 99 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 17 1'45.151  
2 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 16 1'45.204 0.053
3 25 Maverick Viñales Suzuki 20 1'45.248 0.097
4 93 Marc Marquez Honda 20 1'45.303 0.152
5 35 Cal Crutchlow Honda 18 1'45.501 0.350
6 41 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki 19 1'45.513 0.362
7 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 21 1'45.532 0.381
8 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 17 1'46.172 1.021
9 26 Dani Pedrosa Honda 15 1'46.227 1.076
10 44 Pol Espargaro Yamaha 9 1'46.245 1.094
11 6 Stefan Bradl Aprilia 18 1'46.367 1.216
12 19 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 18 1'46.834 1.683
13 50 Eugene Laverty Ducati 14 1'46.853 1.702
14 8 Hector Barbera Ducati 16 1'46.876 1.725
15 68 Yonny Hernandez Ducati 14 1'46.981 1.830
16 45 Scott Redding Ducati 17 1'47.032 1.881
17 21 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha 19 1'47.135 1.984
18 43 Jack Miller Honda 13 1'47.244 2.093
19 53 Tito Rabat Honda 22 1'47.972 2.821
20 76 Loris Baz Ducati 17 1'48.669 3.518
21 38 Bradley Smith Yamaha 15 1'48.897 3.746
22 7 Mike Jones Ducati 21 1'50.955 5.804

 

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