Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo topped the timing sheets in FP2 as times tumbled in this afternoon’s MotoGP practice. More than a second quicker than Dani Pedrosa’s time from this morning, the reigning world champion posted a time of 1m32.830s.
Ducati’s Andrea Iannone was second with a time of 1m33.169s, with Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez ending the session in third. On the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha was Pol Espargaro with a time of 1m33.406s, ending the session in fourth for his team’s home race.
In fifth was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso with a time of 1m33.574s. He will be hoping to turn his fortunes around at the Bugatti circuit after successive DNFs in the last three rounds. He was followed by the Suzuki duo of Aleix Espargaro (1m33.595s) and Maverick Vinales (1m33.613s).
Dani Pedrosa improved on his fastest overall time from FP1, but clocking in at 1m33.748s the Repsol Honda rider could only manage eighth this afternoon. He was followed by Avintia Ducati’s Hector Barbera.
Valentino Rossi was unable to repeat the devastating form he showed in Jerez, finishing the session down in tenth. It’s still early, though, and with Luca Cadalora spotting for him out on track there are no doubt improvements still to be made.
Returning from a pre-season testing injury, Danilo Petrucci was followed by a trio of Brits, with Cal Crutchlow in 12th, Scott Redding in 13th and Bradley Smith in 14th. Both Crutchlow and Redding suffered minor crashes in the session but were unhurt. Joining them in the kitty litter was home hero Loris Baz, who ended the session in 15th. Aspar Ducati’s Eugene Laverty was in 16th, just 1.595s off of Lorenzo’s best lap.
