Photography by Gold & Goose
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso came back from a crash early in Free Practice 2 for the Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at Misano to record the fastest time of the wet session, which saw many fall. Riders had to deal with large puddles and even bigger areas of standing water in the rainy session, but Dovizioso still managed to clock a 1:49.195. He was the only rider to break into the 1:49s. Second and third were the Repsol Hondas of Dani Pedrosa (1:50.356) and Marc Marquez (1:50.519).
There were numerous crashes in the morning FP1 session, including Valentino Rossi and Andrea Iannone among many others. That trend would continue in FP2.
FP2 started the same with Dovizioso falling early in the session, as many riders sat in the paddock letting others the waters (literally). Aleix Espargaro suffered a second crash of the day and his frustration was obvious as he walked back to the pits.
Gradually most of the other riders entered the track.
Iannone was on track to set the fastest lap with a little under a half hour to go when he fell in turn 16, escaping without injury.
With 20 minutes to go Marquez, who’d played it conservatively until then, clocked the fastest time to that point of the session with a 1:50.519. Petrucci got a tow and moved up to third.
In the closing minutes riders began getting down to business. Dovizioso sloughed off his earlier crash and was the first rider to break into the 1:49 bracket with a 1:49.423. At the very end he improved that even more with a 1:49.195.
Pedrosa clocked his best time on the last lap of the session to move into second ahead of his Repsol Honda teammate Marquez, who sat out the closing minutes of the session.
While the speeds increased at the end of the session so did the crashes. Bradley Smith went down for the second time on the day with under five minutes remaining. He was okay, but his session was over. Alvaro Bautista also fell and slid on his back off the track as did Karel Abraham, Scott Redding and Alex de Angelis.
Friday’s session was perhaps a pleasant surprise based on comments Dovizioso made coming into the weekend.
“Even though I won my first race there on big bikes, Misano is not one of my favorite circuits, but this Grand Prix is also our second ‘home race’ so I’m sure the fans will be an extra help,” Dovizioso said. “It will be not easy to confirm our Silverstone performance, but we had the opportunity to do a good test at Misano before we went to the UK, so we are going there in an optimistic mood.”
The weather is expected to clear on the Adriatic Coast as the weekend continues.
MotoGP Free Practice 2 from Misano – Sept. 12, 2014
1. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 1m 49.195s [Lap 13/14] 280km/h (Top Speed)
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 50.356s +1.161s [12/12] 272km/h
3. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 50.519s +1.324s [6/7] 275km/h
4. Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing Project (ART) 1m 50.641s +1.446s [14/14] 263km/h
5. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 1m 50.714s +1.519s [11/15] 275km/h
6. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 50.761s +1.566s [16/18] 277km/h
7. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 50.848s +1.653s [6/7] 262km/h
8. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 51.541s +2.346s [14/15] 268km/h
9. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 1m 51.603s +2.408s [6/7] 268km/h
10. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 51.738s +2.543s [17/17] 273km/h
11. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 1m 51.757s +2.562s [18/18] 274km/h
12. Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 1m 52.164s +2.969s [10/13] 268km/h
13. Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 1m 52.213s +3.018s [13/15] 258km/h
14. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 52.298s +3.103s [16/16] 264km/h
15. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 1m 52.584s +3.389s [18/18] 269km/h
16. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 1m 52.814s +3.619s [14/17] 267km/h
17. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 1m 53.326s +4.131s [16/16] 262km/h
18. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 53.329s +4.134s [15/15] 270km/h
19. Leon Camier GBR Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 1m 53.699s +4.504s [17/17] 253km/h
20. Alex De Angelis RSM NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 1m 54.105s +4.910s [14/17] 257km/h
21. Broc Parkes AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 1m 56.128s +6.933s [13/13] 251km/h
22. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Avintia) 1m 56.632s +7.437s [14/16] 256km/h
23. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Avintia) 1m 58.788s +9.593s [8/13] 249km/h
