MotoGP Austria winner Andrea Iannone has carried on from where he left off at the Red Bull Ring, setting the quickest time in this morning’s opening free practice at Brno and then followed it up with the second fastest time of the session.
The factory Ducati man topped the timesheets in his last run, banging in a 1’56.189 to topple Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi from top spot and then put in a 1’56.377 on his final lap, only losing out in the final sector all while using his second bike as his first choice broke down with 17 minutes left to run
Rossi had held the number one slot with a 1’56.464, set at the same time as Iannone ground to a halt, with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in second on a 1’56.673 but he was pushed back to third as the Ducati man upped his game from third to first.
Hector Barbera edged under the 1’57s mark with his final effort, taking fourth place with a 1’56.964 to push Andrea Dovizioso, on the second work Ducati, into fifth place just ahead of Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda.
Marquez was on the bubble of a 1’56, putting in a 1’57.085 on his tenth lap but then not getting within six-tenths of it in his final three laps. Maverick Vinales was a tenth further back in seventh while Scott Redding started early, leading in the opening minutes, but slipped back to eighth.
Dani Pedrosa, on the second works RC213V, ended in ninth place with Aleix Espargaro next along. Bradley Smith hasn’t found the miracle cure he is looking for but found some pace to place 11th, one ahead of Cal Crutchlow who is 1.4s off the pace.
Pol Espargaro, Danilo Petrucci and Stefan Bradl complete the top ten while Eugene Laverty ended in the day in 20th.
