Jorge Lorenzo’s Movistar Yamaha team added a pair of Ducati-style fairing wings to his YZR-M1 just before the start of his third run in second MotoGP free practice at Misano and immediately broke the outright lap record and top the session.
Lorenzo used the medium Bridgestones to put in a 1’32.871 on his 14th lap to go under Marc Marquez’s best from 2013 of 1’32.915 but was only 0.053s behind his fellow Spaniard as the pair were the business end of four-tenths quicker than Dani Pedrosa in third place on a 1’33.258, set on his 20th lap. Marquez used the hard-option tyres front and rear for his lap.
Andrea Dovizoso thundered into third place on the soft-tyred Ducati GP15 with only seconds left, sticking in a 1’33 291 but was usurped by Pedrosa as the chequered flag came out. Valentino Rossi, who remained wingless in the session, ended in fifth place and a little less than six-tenths slower than his team-mate.
Monster Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro hovered around the top five all session but just slipped to sixth with a 1’33.552 while Danilo Petrucci, who was on the podium at Silverstone, bagged seventh place, one ahead of Britain’s Bradley Smith. Ducati test rider Michele Pirro put his version of the GP15 in ninth.
Cal Crutchlow picked himself up from an early crash to set the tenth best time while Scott Redding parked his satellite RC213V one further place behind. Aleix Espargaro was the first of the Suzukis in 12th place, one ahead of Andrea Iannone, who went down at turn ten.
Eugene Laverty was the top Open class bike in 15th place and ended on 1.474 off the pace.
