Lowering skies and occasional spits threatened rain for tomorrow morning’s FP3 made today’s first two practices potentially crucial for MotoGP, determining the top ten to go straight through to Q2.
The result was not very unexpected, but still big relief after Austria’s problems for the factory Movistar Yamaha pair, who were quickest in the morning, and comfortably still in the mix in the afternoon, the top six all inside half a second at the longest track of the year.
But in spite of a full resurfacing, with riders praising the new levels of grip, the bumps – mystifyingly – had become even worse than before, and the expected lap-time improvement didn’t come. The fastest time, 2m 1.385s, was 1.444 seconds off last year’s pole.
That time was set by last year’s winner Andrea Dovizioso, whose factory Ducati was for a time fully half a second clear … until the rest revved it up.
By the finish, British star Cal Crutchlow (LCR Castrol Honda) was merely five thousandths slower, and then Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) 0.056 behind him.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) was a similar distance away in fourth; second Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo four tenths down, coming through into the top ten only after the flag.
Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Ducati) was sixth; then Johan Zarco (Monster Yamaha) heading factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi and Andrea Iannone on the top Ecstar Suzuki.
Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Ducati) completed the top ten, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Idemitsu Honda) out of it by less than a tenth.
Big names to miss the cut were Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Ducati) 12th; Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 15th and Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) 19th.
Moto2
Moto2 was hit by the familiarly unpredictable weather. Barely ten minutes in to their afternoon session, occasional spits turned into proper rain, bringing everyone in to the pits and preventing any improvement on the morning times.
Alex Marquez (VDS Kalex) had by then set fastest afternoon time, but he was in fifth overall in combined times, in the midst of 14 riders within a second of the top time.
That was set by Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Kalex), just over a quarter of a second clear of Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex) and an ebullient Sam Lowes (SII KTM), determined to make his mark at his home race.
Lorenzo Baldassarri (HP40 Kalex) was fourth, then Marquez ahead of Fabio Quartararo’s Speed Up.
Points leader Pecco Bagnaia (SKY VR46 Kalex) was seventh, ahead of the similar bikes of Jorge Navarro and Romano Fenati; with Andrea Locatelli com;pleting the top ten on another Kalex.
Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Kalex), on the podium at the last three races, was 12th; title challenger Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) came back from a heavy early crash to place 20th.
Moto3
Moto3 times were also relatively spread, with just nine with the first second – though with a long lap and a best time of 2m 14.257 this is not too surprising.
That was set by Marinelli Honda’s Tony Arbolino, heading a good mix of the two different marques. Marco Bezzecchi (Redox KTM) was next; Nico Antonelli (SIC58 Honda) third.
The provisional second row has the opposite mix: KTM-Honda-KTM; ridden by Gabriel Rodrigo, Aron Canet and Peter Oettl. The last-named had been fastest in the morning.
Fabio Di Giannantonio (Honda), Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) and Tatsuki Suzuki (Honda) are next; with former title leader Jorge Martin (Del Conca Honda) tenth-fastest
