After a rain-hit day one, the sun finally shone down under as day two of the MotoGP Phillip Island test got underway, with Maverick Vinales leading at the end of the session.
The Team Suzuki Ecstar rider set a time of 1’29.131 in the afternoon session after cold conditions led to many riders staying put in their garages in the morning.
Vinales was followed by fellow Spaniards Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo, who weren’t that far off the 2015 rookie of the year’s times. Marquez and Vinales both produced some fast lap times in the last 5 minutes of the session, but Marquez was unable to beat Vinales benchmark time. Jorge Lorenzo completed eighty laps of the Australian circuit, finishing 0.226 behind Vinales.
Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi was not too far off the pace either, with the Italian finishing only 0.047 behind the World Champion. Both the Yamaha’s weren’t that far off the fastest lap of the 2015 race, only being a quarter of a second behind.
Britain’s Cal Crutchlow finished a credible fifth place for the LCR Honda squad. This is even more impressive when you consider that Crutchlow (and the rest of the Honda satellite riders) are limited to using last years engine and the one tested at Valencia, both that were criticized by the riders using them.
Following Crutchlow was the Ducati pairing of Hector Barbera and Andrea Iannone. Hector Barbera is riding the now 2-year-old GP14.2 Desmosedici, and a sixth place finish is a quite impressive placing for the Avintia rider. Iannone finished 0.003 off Barbera’s time, finishing as the second placed Ducati rider. Although not testing, Casey Stoner was at the test and spoke to many of the Ducati riders about the bike and circuit.
Dani Pedrosa caused a brief stop to the session after falling off his Repsol Honda machine. The MotoGP veteran ended the session eighth, 0.786 off the leading time. The British pairing of Scott Redding and Bradley Smith ended the session ninth and tenth respectively, both putting in a late surge to break under the 1’30 barrier.
The leader from day one Danilo Petrucci ended the session in fourteenth position, improving his time by over a second and a half in the better weather conditions on day two.
A second red flag was brought out when Aspar rider Jonny Hernandez crashed at turn four. The Colombian rider was unhurt in the incident but had to sit out the remainder of the session. Local rider Jack Miller continued to improve, with the Australian still recovering from a broken leg suffered in the off-season.
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