Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo has topped the opening MotoGP free practice session at Brno this morning, going 0.151s faster than Marc Marquez who bounced back from an early crash at the set of corners while team-mate Dani Pedrosa nipped into third place with his final lap of the session.
Lorenzo put in a 1’56.499 on his eighth lap of 15 at the Czech Republic circuit with Marquez on a 1’56.650, both using Bridgestone’s medium compound tyre front and rear. The reigning champion fell when he went into the penultimate left was too hot, ran into the gravel but then cracked the throttle as the bike straightened up. But the rear slick then dug itself a rut and pinged back the other way before falling over.
Marquez picked himself up and then went on to do a half-distance race run with most laps in the 1'57s while Lorenzo managed to stay in the 1'56s for six laps of a three-run session.
Pedrosa, also on the medium/medium combination, did a 1’56.784, going 0.037s quicker than the works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso who said yesterday his target for the weekend was not to focus on the podium but rather to try and reduce the 20s gap he has to the leading riders. So that’s a good start for the Italian.
His team-mate Andrea Iannone ended in fifth place on a 1’56.914 and was the last rider under the 1’57s barrier. Valentino Rossi popped into sixth place with his last lap of the session, a 1’57.038 being enough to demote Bradley Smith to seventh with Aleix Espargaro the leading Ecstar Suzuki in eighth.
Maverick Vinales, on the second GSX-RR, is one place further back and just over a tenth slower than Espargaro while Cal Crutchlow completes the top ten with a 1’57.781, 1.3s slower than Lorenzo’s pace.
Scott Redding ended one place behind Pol Espargaro in 13th place and one ahead of Hector Barbera who took top spot in the Open competition. Nicky Hayden was the leading Open Honda in 16th and Eugene Laverty ended two places behind his Aspar team-mate. Returning Frenchman Loris Baz finished 20th on the Forward Yamaha.
