Submitted by Mike Lewis on
Could it be that Jorge Lorenzo’s broken and plated collarbone will prove to be a greater disappointment to his rivals than the World Champion? The first MotoGP practice at the German Grand Prix certainly indicates that possibility. Lorenzo set the fast lap early in the session and kept upping the pace throughout to grab the top spot with a 1'22.047.
Championship rival Dani Pedrosa finished second with the newly invigorated Valentino Rossi in third. Rossi held second much of the session but was pipped by Honda rider at the end. Still, both were two-tenths behind Lorenzo.
And while Yamaha and Honda continue their podium war, things remain bleak for Ducati. Three of the Italian bikes had issues at turn 11, the fast right-hander that drops into the waterfall. Both Andreas -- Dovizioso (10th) and Iannone (12th) -- crashed there. And Nicky Hayden (8th) saved a massive tank slapper but immediately pulled into the pits afterward.
Rookie Marc Marquez led much of the early session and but finished fourth.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
1 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'22.047 | ||
2 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'22.221 | 0.174 | 0.174 |
3 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'22.241 | 0.194 | 0.020 |
4 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'22.397 | 0.350 | 0.156 |
5 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 1'22.460 | 0.413 | 0.063 |
6 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | 1'22.469 | 0.422 | 0.009 |
7 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia ART | 1'22.641 | 0.594 | 0.172 |
8 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | 1'22.816 | 0.769 | 0.175 |
9 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Honda | 1'22.882 | 0.835 | 0.066 |
10 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'23.068 | 1.021 | 0.186 |
11 | 14 | Randy de Puniet | Aprilia ART | 1'23.131 | 1.084 | 0.063 |
12 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'23.578 | 1.531 | 0.447 |
13 | 8 | Hector Barbera | FTR Kawasaki | 1'23.672 | 1.625 | 0.094 |
14 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Aprilia ART | 1'23.695 | 1.648 | 0.023 |
15 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | 1'23.726 | 1.679 | 0.031 |
16 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1'23.868 | 1.821 | 0.142 |
17 | 5 | Colin Edwards | FTR Kawasaki | 1'24.521 | 2.474 | 0.653 |
18 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Suter BMW | 1'24.575 | 2.528 | 0.054 |
19 | 7 | Hiroshi Aoyama | FTR Kawasaki | 1'24.682 | 2.635 | 0.107 |
20 | 71 | Claudio Corti | FTR Kawasaki | 1'24.728 | 2.681 | 0.046 |
21 | 67 | Bryan Staring | FTR Honda | 1'24.798 | 2.751 | 0.070 |
22 | 70 | Michael Laverty | PBM | 1'25.129 | 3.082 | 0.331 |
23 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Aprilia ART | 1'26.195 | 4.148 | 1.066 |
24 | 52 | Lukas Pesek | Suter BMW | 1'27.172 | 5.125 | 0.977 |
Comments
The Machine
Impressive stuff from Lorenzo. With Dani being so close, I don't see him being able to last race distance at this track.
Ducati and spec Bridgestone...
The Ducati and the Bridgestone spec tire have never fielded a legitimate threat to even threaten....it appears an insurmountable issue that no rider or dollars or effort has been able to overcome....the thing is simply not functional as a machine built to contend ....and on days like this,
rider survival seems a reasonable goal...
Spec tire
Totally agree
I think I saw it on this site but I really like the idea of ditching the spec tire so that Ducati and especially the CRTs can get a tire more in line with their bike, not the other way around. When Casey won with Ducati I think a big part was that Brigdestone was providing a tire that suited the Ducati and didn't have to worry about the Yams and Hondas cause they were on Michelins
Re: Spec tire
Couldn't agree more. Ducati took a gamble with Bridgestone when everyone except for that Dunlop team played it safe and went with Michelin. It took a few years to get to the point where the tires worked in a variety of conditions, but it paid off. As a fan, I'd love to see the additional drama provided by a different tire package.
Ducati would not be the only
Ducati would not be the only manufacturer getting custom made tires. So would Yamaha and Honda, making them even faster. The status quo will not change until Ducati figures out how to build a MotoGP bike that works.
Aleix... destined for a prototype ride
Surely after the run of recent performances he must be in line for, at a minimum, a prototype ride for next year or 2015?!
In front of 6 prototypes and his closest CRT is RdP who is almost double his time off the pace of JL.