Iannone tops day one at Phillip Island
Marquez ran off the circuit and lost a little time as a result while Valentino Rossi also made an excursion and made it all the way to the wall before rejoining the circuit.
With 30-minutes remaining in the session Cal Crutchlow shot to the top of the charts with a 1m29.616 but was not there for long as Andrea Iannone then pushed him back to P2 with a 1m29.510.
Marquez was in P3 but did not look completely comfortable at any point. A big front end lose at turn three halfway through the session saw the World Champion again pull off a miraculous save, clearly the times were not coming easily to the Repsol Honda today. Still, apart from Crutchlow and Iannone, Marquez was the only other rider to have made it into the 29s during FP2 with 20-minutes still remaining in the session.
With 12-minutes remaining in the session Cal Crutchlow tumbled off at turn one and was stretchered from the circuit in pain. It is now confirmed that Cal broke his ankle and will unfortunately be out for the remainder of the weekend.
Valentino Rossi had made progress in the FP2 session and with ten-minutes remaining was up to fifth place, but only eighth on combined times as Vinales and Miller had gone considerably quicker in FP1.
Miller had put in plenty of laps in FP2 but it was not until late in the session that the Aussie got anywhere near his 1m29.989 from FP1. A 1m30.129 with seven-minutes remaining in the second session was backed up with a 1m30.048, still not good enough to better his FP1 time. A few minutes later though he crossed the stripe with a 1m29.838 to finally better that FP1 time.
Dovizioso dropped in a 1m29.555 to catapult his way up the charts to P2 with five-minutes left in the session. He then went one better on his next lap, a 1m29.406 to push Iannone back to second place on the combined timesheets.
Danilo Petrucci then came from nowhere to shoot to the top of the timesheets with a 1m29.291. Vinales also put in a scorcher, 1m29.354 to move back up to second place behind Petrucci.
Andrea Iannone was not done yet though! On his final flying lap the Suzuki man went quickest overall with a 1m29.131.
Mike Jones ended the session with a best of 1m33.633.
With a slight possibility of showers and wind tomorrow times set today could prove important in regards to who makes it straight into Q2 if tomorrow’s FP3 sessions is held under wet conditions.
Moto2
By the time MotoGP FP2 got underway at 1620 this afternoon the almost three-hour hit to the schedule this morning had been made up. That time, of course, came at the expense of a lunch break, ASBK Superbike race one, and the ASBK Supersport 300 qualifying session all beind delayed until further notice.
Bryan Staring was caught up in an incident with Khairul Idham Pawi at turn four early in the Moto2 FP2 session. Pawi got up and looked to remonstrate as though he blamed Staring for the incident. From my viewpoint it clearly looked as though Pawi had cocked the corner right up, and Staring was left nowhere to go. Either way, Staring seemed to come off second best as he limped from the circuit aided by a number of flaggies. The West Australian only got to complete a couple of laps in the session.
Bryan Staring
“Unfortunately I did only three laps in FP2, but from this morning, we had a very positive session. I think we didn’t set the world on fire with the lap time, but I got to learn a lot about the bike and initial feelings on how to ride it. I’m sure we would have taken a good step forward in Free Practice two, but we didn’t get the opportunity. So, hopefully the bike is not too damaged and I don’t wake up too sore tomorrow, so I think we can still have a good weekend.”
On the upside on the Aussie front in the Moto2 class, Remy Gardner got 14 laps in during FP2 after failing to compete a lap in FP1 after suffering a massive crash at the start of the first session. Gardner got down to 1m35.298 on his final lap and appeared to be making progress.
Remy Gardner
“I had a massive crash in FP1, which wasn’t fun and definitely knocked some confidence out of me. But we got back for FP2, where I just felt a bit stiff on the bike. Hopefully tonight it’s healing up a bit more and I’m definitely coming back tomorrow attacking. I feel we just need to get back and keep working towards the race.”
MotoGP Friday Combined Practice Times
- Iannone 1m29.131
- Petrucci 1m29.291
- Vinales 1m29.354
- Dovizioso 1m29.406
- Crutchlow 1m29.616
- Zarco 1m29.686
- Marquez 1m29.739
- Miller 1m29.838
- Rins 1m29.918
- Rossi 1m30.133
- Syahrin 1m30.179
- Smith 1m30.346
- Pedrosa 1m30.472
- Pol Espargaro 1m30.545
- Alvaro Bautista 1m30.734
- Aleix Espargaro 1m30.736
- Karel Abraham 1m30.772
- Franco Morbidelli 1m30.787
- Takaaki Nakagami 1m30.830
- Xavier Simeon 1m31.275
- Tom Luthi 1m31.539
- Jordi Torres 1m31.570
- Scott Redding 1m31.941
- Mike Jones 1m33.633
Moto2 Friday Combined Practice Times
- Binder 1m33.701
- Schrotter 1m33.788
- Pasini 1m34.010
- Lecuona 1m34.051
- Bagnaia 1m34.066
- Oliveira 1m34.087
- Marquez 1m34.268
- Fernandez 1m34.352
- Vierge 1m34.522
- Locatelli 1m34.587
- Mir 1m34.596
- Baldassarri 1m34.604
- Quartararo 1m34.641
- Aegerter 1m34.657
- Lowes 1m34.766
- Odendaal 1m34.788
- Navarro 1m34.791
- Manzi 1m34.839
- Roberts 1m34.968
- Raffin 1m35.009
- Nagashima 1m35.039
- Marini 1m35.113
- Pons 1m35.141
- Corsi 1m35.146
- Tuuli 1m35.153
- Pawi 1m35.283
- Gardner 1m35.298
- Danilo 1m36.401
- Staring 1m36.455
- Cardelus 1m36.777
- Fuligni 1m37.009
- Vinales 1m37.026
Moto3 Friday Combined Practice Times
- Canet 1m37.285
- Martin 1m37.396
- Ramirez 1m37.398
- Bezzecchi 1m37.458
- Rodrigo 1m37.475
- Dalla Porta 1m37.588
- McPhee 1m37.792
- Sasaki 1m37.798
- Arbolino 1m37.863
- Bastianini 1m37.867
- Arenas 1m38.050
- Binder 1m38.121
- Oettl 1m38.133
- Kornfeil 1m38.199
- Suzuki 1m38.219
- Perez 1m38.236
- Montella 1m38.284
- Foggia 1m38.380
- Masaki 1m38.435
- Masia 1m38.564
- Migno 1m38.618
- Toba 1m38.699
- Di Giannantonio 1m38.785
- Lopez 1m38.803
- Vietti 1m39.122
- Norrodin 1m39.231
- Atiratphuva 1m39.296
- Nepa 1m40.197 (FP1)
