Nine of the top ten riders in this afternoon’s second free practice session, including Aussie Jack Miller (8th), posted times in the 1m29s bracket, but no one could better the 1m28.952s lap time set during Free Practice 1 by Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales.
Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) shot to the top of the timesheets in the dying seconds of the session, posting a 1m29.131s lap.
He was followed by Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing Ducati) and Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) to round out the top three, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was fourth, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol Honda) 1m29.616s fifth, and Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha) 1m29.686 sixth. New world champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was seventh fastest with a 1m29.739s lap, ahead of Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing Ducati) 1m29.838s and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) 1m29.918s. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) rounded out the top ten with a 1m30.133s lap.
After posting the fifth-fastest time of the session, Honda rider Crutchlow crashed, and appeared to injure his leg. He received a ride to the trackside medical centre for further checks.
Mike Jones, enjoying a return Australian MotoGP ride on the Angel Nieto Team Ducati, improved his morning session-best time of 1m35.012m to post a 1m33.633s lap.
Interestingly, Miller’s 1m29.838s lap time on last year’s GP17 Ducati was almost a second quicker than the time set by Alvaro Bautista (1m30.734s) who has been drafted into the Ducati Factory team to ride Jorge Lorenzo’s GP18 machine for this round.
The MotoGP riders will be back on track tomorrow morning (Saturday) for Free Practice 3 which will determine the two groups for the all-important afternoon qualifying sessions.
Photos GnG
