Factory Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo continues to top the MotoGP free practice timesheets at Mugello today, going fastest in the second session this afternoon but he was run very close by Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden as reigning champion Casey Stoner struggled in sixth place.
Lorenzo, who ran into the gravel early on, set the quickest time of the weekend so far on a 1'48.076 on his fourth lap but both Pedrosa and Hayden were within a tenth of a second of the 2010 world champion. Lorenzo, however, stayed in the 1'48s bracket on each of his flying lap. Pedrosa was also close consistency while Hayden only put in one sub 1'49s bracket.
Hector Barbera, who had a huge crash at Casanova/Savelli bringing out the red flags, managed to bag fourth place after following Andrea Dovizioso for half a lap while the Monster Yamaha man himself was in fifth place but only two tenths off the pace. Stoner is another two tenths in arrears and is just ahead of Ben Spies.
Cal Crutchlow pipped Valentino Rossi to eighth place with his final lap of the session and a little under six-tenths off the pace while The Doctor is another four tenths further back. Stefan Bradl rounds out the top ten
Aleix Espargaro reversed roles with team-mate Randy De Puniet and topped the CRT standings with Michele Pirro in third. Colin Edwards was 17th and James Ellison 18th.
