Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez sliced 1.3s off his laptime from this morning’s opening MotoGP free practice session to end the second period with a one-second lead over the chasing pack and get to less than half a second off his own circuit best lap set last year - and all using the hard option Bridgestone tyre.
Marquez went from 2’04.704 in the first session to a 2’03.490 on his ninth lap of 16 and it was only Andrea Dovizioso, using a soft-tyre on his works Ducati, that could get close - but even that was a full second away with his last lap of the session.
Seven of Marquez’s laps in the session were faster than Dovizioso’s quickest while Dani Pedrosa, who was third on a 2’04.623 with the hard tyre, only went into the 2’04s three times, never troubling the 2’03 marker. Andrea Iannone, on another soft-shod Ducati, was fourth quickest on a 2’04.669.
Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi spent most of his session on the red-walled hard tyre but switched to the medium option at the end and put in three 2’04s laps with a fastest of 2’04.793 while team-mate Jorge Lorenzo could only muster a 2'04.976 for eighth on the medium but he cut the gap to Marquez from two seconds to 1.5.
Aleix Espargaro used his soft tyre option to register the sixth-quickest time and stayed ahead of Stefan Bradl, who set his time on the hard option. Cal Crutchlow was clearly not happy in ninth but he had his 2013 team-mate, Bradley Smith behind him.
Scott Redding finished ahead of Nicky Hayden on the combined timesheet with a 2’05.937 compared to the American’s 2’06.188. Michael Laverty and Broc Parkes ended in 21st and 22nd but both sliced more than a second off their times.
