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
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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. | # | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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