LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl proved his first MotoGP pole position at Laguna Seca was no fluke as he set the quickest time in second free practice at Brno this afternoon with his last flying lap of the session.
The German former Moto2 champion spent most of the 45 minutes on the hard-option rear tyre but with a few minutes left, he swapped to the softer Bridgestone and immediately upped the pace to depose Jorge Lorenzo with a 1'56.500 which was also the fastest time of the weekend so far.
Lorenzo's went top of the session with his fourth lap of 18, putting in a 1'56.538 and stayed there until Bradl started his last run. Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa was third quickest and only a tenth of a second behind his HRC stablemate.
Valentino Rossi, on the second factory Yamaha, set a 1'56.726 but on the harder option tyre which was good enough for fourth place and only a tenth slower than Pedrosa while rookie Marc Marquez lapped just 0.007s slower than the nine-time world champion.
Pedrosa and Marquez exchanged fastest top speeds through the session with the youngster setting 193mph to break Max Biaggi's nine-year-old record early on but Pedrosa hit 195mph towards the end.
Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith are stuck together in sixth and seventh place, with half a second splitting them. Crutchlow's last lap was set to promote him to fourth but he ran wide on the way up the hill and had to settle for a 1'56.800 while Smith managed 1'57.351.
Alvaro Bautista stayed ahead of a late-charging Andrea Dovizioso for eighth with Nicky Hayden rounded out the top ten. Aleix Espargaro was quickest in the CRT class followed by Hector Barbera and Claudio Corti. Michael Laverty improved his position to 21st at a track he is unfamiliar with.
