Submitted by David Emmett on
Andrea Dovizioso has topped the first session of free practice for the MotoGP class. The Factory Ducati rider took advantage of the data collected during the test with the team had here just over two weeks ago, and was very quickly up to speed, being at or close to the top all session long. Only Jorge Lorenzo could break his hegemony, the Movistar Yamaha rider still on a roll from his last two races, and very quickly up to speed. Andrea Iannone was the 3rd quickest, putting in a fast lap at the end of the session, and producing a very close top three: just 0.047 seconds separate Iannone from Dovizioso.
Marc Marquez is another tenth of a second further back, the Repsol Honda rider experimenting with two different swingarms: the new one introduced at Le Mans after testing at Jerez, and the old one they started the season with. Yonny Hernandez took 5th spot, cleverly using a tow from Valentino Rossi to post a quick lap. Rossi himself ended the session in 6th, 0.432 behind Dovizioso, but a relatively good start for the Italian.
Scott Redding found some speed to grab 7th, the Marc VDS rider still chasing confidence in the feeling of his RC213V. Redding led another British rider, Monster Tech 3 man Bradley Smith, who ended the session ahead of his teammate Pol Espargaro. Less than half a second separates Espargaro in 9th from Dovizioso in 1st. Cal Crutchlow rounded out the top 10.
Results:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'47.893 | ||
| 2 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'47.926 | 0.033 | 0.033 |
| 3 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'47.940 | 0.047 | 0.014 |
| 4 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'48.028 | 0.135 | 0.088 |
| 5 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | 1'48.304 | 0.411 | 0.276 |
| 6 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'48.325 | 0.432 | 0.021 |
| 7 | 45 | Scott Redding | Honda | 1'48.340 | 0.447 | 0.015 |
| 8 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | 1'48.349 | 0.456 | 0.009 |
| 9 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'48.390 | 0.497 | 0.041 |
| 10 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'48.459 | 0.566 | 0.069 |
| 11 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'48.541 | 0.648 | 0.082 |
| 12 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1'48.614 | 0.721 | 0.073 |
| 13 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'48.616 | 0.723 | 0.002 |
| 14 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'48.675 | 0.782 | 0.059 |
| 15 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki | 1'49.100 | 1.207 | 0.425 |
| 16 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | Honda | 1'49.261 | 1.368 | 0.161 |
| 17 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1'49.478 | 1.585 | 0.217 |
| 18 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Honda | 1'49.569 | 1.676 | 0.091 |
| 19 | 76 | Loris Baz | Yamaha Forward | 1'49.661 | 1.768 | 0.092 |
| 20 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Honda | 1'49.815 | 1.922 | 0.154 |
| 21 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'49.855 | 1.962 | 0.040 |
| 22 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1'49.922 | 2.029 | 0.067 |
| 23 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Yamaha Forward | 1'49.976 | 2.083 | 0.054 |
| 24 | 63 | Mike Di Meglio | Ducati | 1'50.477 | 2.584 | 0.501 |
| 25 | 15 | Alex De Angelis | ART | 1'51.161 | 3.268 | 0.684 |
| 26 | 33 | Marco Melandri | Aprilia | 1'52.516 | 4.623 | 1.355 |
Comments
top laps are close but pace isn't
The race pace setters are Dovizioso and Lorenzo. The others either lack any consistency or are just plain behind. It is still early though.
Also, Redding set his time chasing Smith in the final laps. At least he could do that though. Things may be looking up for him.
Aprilia and seamless gearbox
Would be curious if there is more information on Bautista and his thoughts if the Aprilia seamless gearbox is a step forward or not. I am a huge Aprilia fan. Proud owner of an RSV4 Factory APRC and all that :D