Photography by Gold & Goose
Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo ended Friday the fastest rider in MotoGP practice at Australia’s Phillip Island with a time of 1:29.602, but he couldn’t have been happy with the way his day ended. In the closing minutes of the session Lorenzo took a heavy tumble, but walked away appearing to be OK. Lorenzo was just one in a group of riders who fell in the final FP2 session.
It didn’t take long for newly crowned champ Marc Marquez to go to the top of the charts and get into the 1:29s in FP2. Shortly after that Andrea Dovizioso was the first of the fallers, taking a fairly high-speed tumble at turn 10, having just touched the brakes. He slammed his hand down in frustration. Hiroshi Aoyama fell a just a minute later in a very similar way to Dovi.
Lorenzo then moved to the top just before the halfway point in the session with a 1:29.602. That became the fastest time of the day, supplanting Aleix Espargaro’s morning FP1 time of 1:29.749, and would hold for the rest of the session.
Pol Esparagaro joined the other riders falling on braking. He strolled trackside picking up pieces from the shattered Tech 3 Yamaha.
At mid-session it was Lorenzo, Marquez and Andrea Iannone leading the way.
With just over six minutes to Lorenzo added to the rash of riders falling while braking for right handers. He hit the ground so quickly, obviously having no clue he was going down. Iannone fell just a minute later adding to the toll.
In the end three of the four top riders had fallen, Marquez the only one to stay upright. Rossi ended FP2 in fifth, making it two Yamahas, two Ducatis and a Honda in the top five.
American Nicky Hayden ended FP2 in 13th with a 1:31.043 on his Drive M7 Aspar entry, making him the fastest of the open Hondas.
After a strong victory at Motegi, Lorenzo is also prepared to take on the competition. Phillip Island is the Spaniard’s favorite circuit. He scored two second places in the premier class in 2010 and 2012 before claiming victory last year in unusual circumstances. Following safety concerns the race was reduced to 19 laps and included a mandatory bike change at the ten-lap mark.
Teams are testing a new multi-compound front tire in effort to combat the high wear the Phillip Island circuit can put on the tires.
MotoGP FP2 Practice from Phillip Island, Australia – Oct. 18, 2014
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 331.7 1’29.602
2 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 334.9 1’29.752 0.150 / 0.150
3 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 340.8 1’29.803 0.201 / 0.051
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 338.5 1’29.945 0.343 / 0.142
5 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 332.8 1’29.954 0.352 / 0.009
6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 330.4 1’30.058 0.456 / 0.104
7 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Ducati Team Ducati 338.7 1’30.076 0.474 / 0.018
8 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 337.6 1’30.103 0.501 / 0.027
9 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 337.3 1’30.281 0.679 / 0.178
10 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 327.8 1’30.289 0.687 / 0.008
11 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 336.7 1’30.313 0.711 / 0.024
12 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 335.2 1’30.678 1.076 / 0.365
13 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Drive M7 Aspar Honda 323.2 1’31.043 1.441 / 0.365
14 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 332.8 1’31.108 1.506 / 0.065
15 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 334.2 1’31.137 1.535 / 0.029
16 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 325.5 1’31.219 1.617 / 0.082
17 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Drive M7 Aspar Honda 324.9 1’31.264 1.662 / 0.045
18 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 331.0 1’31.355 1.753 / 0.091
19 45 Scott REDDING GBR GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 321.2 1’31.550 1.948 / 0.195
20 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo IodaRacing Team ART 320.6 1’31.916 2.314 / 0.366
21 23 Broc PARKES AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 314.5 1’32.506 2.904 / 0.590
22 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Avintia 317.9 1’32.598 2.996 / 0.092
23 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 319.1 1’32.843 3.241 / 0.245
