Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa led a Honda lock-out of the top three places in MotoGP free practice today, setting the quickest time of the day and enjoys a half-second advantage over Jack Miller in second place while Britain’s Cal Crutchlow claimed third place.
Pedrosa, who led this morning’s wet session, was on fire with a 1’39.420 lap set using a soft rear Michelin while Miller put in a 1’39.964 and Crutchlow’s 1’40.045. Both the non-factory bikes were also shod with the sticky rear and Crutchlow was also testing the stubby exhaust previously tested and ditched by Pedrosa.
Reigning champion Marc Marquez was some way down the order, finishing in 14th place but he used the same set of medium tyres for the entire session and didn’t change to a new soft to set a time. Jorge Lorenzo, however, did and used them front and rear to secure fourth place with a 1’40.291.
Maverick Vinales suffered a crash early doors, losing the front on a wet patch at turn nine but still finished in sixth, setting his best time of 1’40.379 on a medium rear which was enough to outpace the soft-shod Danilo Petrucci in fifth place.
Valentino Rossi experimented with the aero-fairing on his Movistar Yamaha M1 but then swapped back to the traditional piece for his final time attack. The Doctor could only muster a 1’40.698 for 12th place.
Alvaro Bautista stuck in a respectable 1’40.392 on the soft rear for seventh place, one ahead of Andrea Dovizioso’s works GP17 in eighth. Aleix Espargaro picked himself up from the same crash that befell Vinales at turn nine to finish in ninth on a 1’40.479.
Younger brother Pol used the big bang-powered and aero-packaged KTM to secure tenth place and is only 1.153s off the pace. Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding finished in 11th, one ahead of Rossi. Jonas Folger was a slot ahead of Marquez in 13th and his Monster Yamaha team-mate Johann Zarco was 15th.
Sam Lowes ended the day in 20th and 2.485 off the pace.
Pedrosa is a mile ahead in terms of pace with seven 1'40s laps clocked in FP2 on top of his sole 1'39. Crutchlow managed three with Miller putting in one. Lorenzo also did three but all on the soft rear while Vinales' best lap was his only trip into the 1'40s. Marquez, surprisingly, only did two with much of the rest of his laps in the 1'41s.
