Lorenzo Draws First Blood In Grand Finale

Nov 6, 2015
3 min read

Jorge Lorenzo drew first blood in the “Grand Finale” after topping the second free practice session and the combined standings in Valencia. The Movistar Yamaha rider, who stands seven points adrift of championship rival Valentino Rossi, took to the top of the time sheets with a best-of-the-weekend lap of 1:31.111. He needs to replicate this tomorrow in qualifying as so he makes his job on Sunday that little bit easier.

Despite his times from practice and qualifying being largely academic, the Italian did put on a fresh set of slicks towards the end of the session and went for a qualifying lap just to see how his YZR-M1 is feeling at maximum attack – something he'll definitely need to know for Sunday. His best effort was a 1:31.475, and looked fairly fast on long runs. Expect the team and him to make a bigger step tomorrow in FP3 after studying the data from today.

Dani Pedrosa gave Yamaha something to think about with the second fastest time of the session, going just a couple of tenth shy of Lorenzo. Marc Marquez was fifth in FP2 but did not run a fresh front tyre in the shoot-out phase of the session. The RC213V seems to be overheating the front a lot more than the Yamaha's, and this will be something to keep an eye on in the race. Marquez ended the day second fastest by virtue of his time from FP1, which was a 1:31.250. They'll be hoping to make a step tomorrow to try and improve their situation with the front tyre.

Andrea Iannone used the soft rear slick available to Ducati to full effect in FP2 and went third fastest with a lap of 1:31.444. Team-mate's Michele Pirro and Andrea Dovizioso were twelfth and fourteenth respectively. The former will be one to watch tomorrow, as he has qualified inside the top six on both races he has appeared in this season.

Danilo Petrucci put in a stellar effort to go sixth in FP2. The Pramac riders could be real threats in the race, as the GP14.2 they are riding is the same bike Iannone led last year's race on. Yonny Hernandez was thirteenth in this session.

Bradley Smith is enduring a difficult opening day in Spain. The Tech 3 rider only managed fifteenth in FP2, which is in stark contrast to team-mate Pol Espargaro in seventh. Compatriot Scott Redding faired much worse in twenty-first, claiming that he was fighting the bike rather than riding it. He'll be hoping to find something over night to move himself up the order and end his time with Honda on a high note.

MotoGP Hall of Fame inductee Nicky Hayden ended his afternoon sixteenth, just nine hundredths shy of the Satellite Yamaha of Smith. The American enters his last Grand Prix weekend before switching to WSBK in 2016.

Broc Parkes continued to bed himself back into the swing of things on the Ioda ART machine, improving his time to a 1:34.839 in twenty-sixth.

FP2 Result:

1st Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:31.111

2nd Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team, 1:31.377

3rd Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team, 1:31.499

4th Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:31.475

5th Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, 1:31.481

6th Danilo Petrucci, Octo Pramac Racing Ducati, 1:31.575

7th Pol Espargaro, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, 1:31.674

8th Aleix Espargaro, Suzuki Team Ecstar, 1:31.678

9th Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda, 1:31.803

10th Maverick Vinales, Suzuki Team Ecstar, 1:31.986