Marquez Tops Incident-strewn FP2 In Brno

Aug 14, 2015
3 min read

Marc Marquez topped an incident packed second free practice session at a boiling hot Brno, with track temperatures reaching in excess of 50C.

The Spaniard set his fastest lap of 1:56.513 right at the start of the session when grip was optimal. From that point it was all about race pace and what tyres would be ideal. Many tried different combinations, with Marquez looking at the hard rear and medium front. This seemed to suit the Honda well, but his consistency was a little off in comparison to Jorge Lorenzo, who was 2nd quickest.

Marquez' session came to a premature end when he crashed in the final minute of the session. Unlike his crash in the morning session, which looked more of the results of the 2015 RC213V engine's aggressive braking, this was simply a front-end fold as a result of the heat. This compounded a tricky afternoon for the Repsol Honda team whose second rider, Dani Pedrosa, was forced to sit out of the session after a crash at the final corner. Some fluid found its way out of the back of Pedrosa's Honda and onto his rear tyre, and this sent him crashing into the gravel. He is to undergo tests on a suspected fractured foot.

This accident caught out Yamaha's Valentino Rossi who was following Pedrosa at the time. He hit the patch of oil left by the Spaniard and slid into the gravel – his first crash of 2015. The Italian was able to rejoin and went 4th quickest. An encouraging performance from the championship leader. He also displayed a rather consistent pace of mid-low 1:57 laps, which was slightly down on Lorenzo but not by much.

Ducati had another positive session in 3rd and 6th. More encouragingly was that those times were set on the older bike, with more set-up needed on the new fairing and engine shod bike before they make a decision on whether to race it or not. Despite the promising signs from the Italian factory, their session was not without incident. Andrea Dovizioso crashed with seven-minutes left on the clock.

Suzuki showed that their pace from FP1 wasn't all smoke and mirrors, and they once again appeared inside the top ten. Aleix Espargaro was 7th fastest on a 1:57.202 and it appears that the team may be in for a slightly better weekend. The reason being that, despite their horsepower deficit, the angle of the corners that lead onto the power parts of the circuit are such that those with higher power output require more anti-wheelie, and thus curbing the power available in the lower gears. Because the GSX-RR isn't massively powerful they can put more of their available power down which allows them to punch up the hills a little better. This will be a crucial area in the race.

Cal Crutchlow was 8th quickest and is looking okay on single lap pace, but I remain sceptical about a miracle race purely because that Honda is still proving unpredictable. Bradley Smith and Yonny Hernandez complete the top ten.

FP2 Result

1st Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, 1:56.513

2nd Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:56.589

3rd Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team, 1:56.730

4th Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:57.074

5th Pol Espargaro, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, 1:57.078

6th Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team, 1:57.178

7th Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar, 1:47.202

8th Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR Honda, 1:57.229

9th Bradley Smith, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, 1:57.494

10th Yonny Hernandez, Octo Pramac Racing Ducati, 1:57.544

11th Danilo Petrucci, Octo Pramac Racing Ducati, 1:57.575