Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez put his test session data at Misano to good use in Italy this morning to top the opening MotoGP free practice session but he was chased hard by fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo as they were both on pole record pace.
Misano was resurfaced over the winter and in his test, Marquez was reportedly putting in 1’31.9s laps in hot conditions. His best this morning was a 1’33.328, less than a tenth off his own circuit best set in 2013, with Lorenzo just 0.094s behind with both men using the medium rear tyre.
Ducati’s test rider Michele Pirro, who has down countless laps of the track, hopped into third late on with a 1’33.797 to push Dani Pedrosa down to fourth place while Andrea Dovizioso edged out local man Valentino Rossi for fifth place. The Doctor, who does laps aplenty at Misano on a R1 for ‘physical training’ purposes, set a best of 1’34.086.
The Monster Yamaha duo of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith were next along with Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Iannone rounding out the top ten - the Italian GP15 rider just under a second off the pace.
Scott Redding started the session brightly and although he slipped back to 11th place, the MarcVDS man is only 1.154s off the pace with Open class fastest man Hector Barbera behind him. Eugene Laverty was easily the fastest Open Honda in 15th place.
