Marc Marquez Sets Pace Friday at Phillip Island
Cycle News Staff | October 16, 2015
Photo courtesy MotoGP.com
Repsol Honda’s Marquez had played second fiddle to Lorenzo in the morning’s damp FP1 session at the Pramac Australian Grand Prix. Then, as the track dried and the sun came out in the afternoon it was the reigning MotoGP World Champion who ended the day on top. Marquez set a 1’29.383 to finish just five-hundredths of a second ahead of Lorenzo on the combined timesheets, although he was still some way off the Pole Record set in 2014 (J. Lorenzo – 1’27.899).
Movistar Yamaha’s Lorenzo (+0.050s) began his bid at closing down the 18-point gap in the standings to his teammate Rossi by topping FP1, before having to settle for second overall. The Spaniard improved by over half a second in FP2, in a session that saw the top 13 riders separated by less than nine-tenths of a second.
Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Viñales recovered from crashing out of the race at Motegi to complete the provisional front row, just 0.135s off the pace of Marquez. Viñales took advantage of the sweet handling of his GSX-RR to finish ahead of Andrea Iannone (+0.161s) on the Ducati Team GP15. The Italian is looking to bounce back strongly at Phillip Island after his first DNF of the season at the Japanese GP due to technical issues.
Championship leader Rossi found himself down in ninth, 0.658s off the pace of Marquez, but the ‘Doctor’ did not switch to a fresh set of tyres at the end of FP2 like the majority of the riders. The Italian, who will equal the all-time record of 328 GP starts on Sunday, preferring instead to work on his pace on used tyres, instead of worrying about setting a flying lap.
American Nicky Hayden looked solid in practice finishing 12th in FP2 on his Aspar Honda.
MotoGP FP2 Results – Phillip Island, Australia – Oct. 16, 2015
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 29.383s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 29.433s
3. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 29.518s
4. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 29.544s
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m 29.579s
6. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 29.876s
7. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 1m 30.021s
8. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 30.032s
9. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 30.
10. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 30.113s
—
12. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team (RC213V-RS) 1m 30.184s
