Photography by Gold & Goose
Yesterday he had a corner named after him. Today, Jorge Lorenzo owned them all. The defending MotoGP World Champion set the fastest time of the day in leading both practice sessions as things got rolling fin advance of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Spain at the Jerez Circuit in Spain.
Lorenzo’s best lap on his Yamaha M1 came on his fourth of 18 in the second session on a sunny and hot day in Jerez, the Spaniard throwing down a 1:39.562 to lead the session after also leading the first practice. It was close at the top with the top five covered by just .367 of a second, and no one was closer to Lorenzo than Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow, the Brit nipping at Lorenzo’s heels and ending up just .171 of a second behind.
“At the beginning of the second practice I felt better than this morning but with the warmer temperatures it has been difficult to keep the same pace,” Lorenzo said in a team release. “We will have to work on the settings to keep the same pace for tomorrow. We need to try to improve our pace by three or four tenths, to ride comfortably in the 39s will be a good feeling. I’m happy that we are first in today’s two sessions but I want more.”
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa ended the day third, just .024 of a second behind Crutchlow and just a tick quicker than Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi with the Italian legend only .312 of a second slower than his session-leading teammate Lorenzo.
Fifth fastest today was phenom Marc Marquez, the Grand Prix of The Americas winner ending up .327 of a second behind Lorenzo with his best lap of 1:39.889.
Only then was there gap, though sixth-placed Alvaro Bautista was still within a second of Lorenzo with his 1:40.507 on the Go & Fun Honda. Next came Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone, the MotoGP rookie outshining the factory Ducatis on the opening day of practice.
Eighth fastest was Avintia Blusens CRT rider Hector Barbera – just .002 of a second ahead of another CRT bike, the Power Electronics Aspar ART of Aleix Espargaro.
Then came the pair of factory Ducatis, ridden to 10th and 11th by Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso, respectively. Hayden is 1.275 seconds off Lorenzo’s best.
Notably missing from the top of the timesheets was German Stefan Bradl. The LCR Honda rider crashed on his 13th lap and didn’t return to the track. He ended up 14th fastest.
Colin Edwards ended the day 19th with fellow Texan Ben Spies sidelined with his shoulder/chest injury.
Free Practice 2
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:39.562
2. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1:39.733
3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:39.757
4. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:39.874
5. Marc Marquez (Honda) 1:39.889
6. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 1:40.507
7. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 1:40.574
8. Hector Barbera (FTR) 1:40.736
9. Aleix Espargaro (ART) 1:40.738
10. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1:40.837
19. Colin Edwards (FTR Kawasaki) 1:42.058
