MotoGP 2018 – Round Ten – Brno
Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky
Action got underway at the Automotodrom Brno circuit on Friday with the first two free practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky. Conditions were sweltering which led to some riders struggling with grip in the afternoon heat and failing to improve on their times from FP1.
After ending FP1 seventh fastest, Dani Pedrosa finished the day on top of the standings as the only rider able to lap under the 1’56 barrier when he put a soft rear tyre on at the end of FP2. The Spaniard is happy to have also been fast on hard tyres during the entire session.
Dani Pedrosa – P1
“Today was good because we were able to keep a good pace especially in FP2 on hard tyres. We did a good job there and then also in the final part of the session when we fit a soft rear. That was important because we normally struggle with the soft tyre while today we had a good feeling and good speed. That said, we’ll keep our feet on the ground because not every rider put the soft tyre on today and we need to repeat the performance tomorrow in qualifying. Regarding the final tyre choice for the race I think we’ll need to make more tests tomorrow.”
Danilo Petrucci – P2
“Things didn’t go very well this morning. But after the FP1 we did a great job with the team as we made a lot of changes. With hard tyres, the race pace was really positive in FP2 and the new fairings also gave positive sensations. It’s clear that some riders have hidden themselves a bit but the confidence is great”.
Petrucci’s pace wasn’t the only talking point for the Italian on Friday either. The number 9 Alma Pramac Racing machine sported a new aero fairing – now homologated – which counts as Petrucci’s update for the season, as the updates are counted by rider and not by manufacturer. More updates could be seen to more Borgo Panigale factory machinery elsewhere as well – with Jorge Lorenzo’s fuel tank sporting further modifications.
The top three was completed by another Independent Team Ducati runner – Alvaro Bautista. After four top tens in a row before the summer break, including a fifth place at the Sachsenring, the Spaniard is certainly staking his claim that he deserves a MotoGP seat for season 2019.
Álvaro Bautista – P3
“I am happy with how today has gone, I have got a really good feeling with the bike, even better than Germany, and I feel strong and motivated after the break. This morning I had some problems with the tyres and so we worked on that this afternoon. I felt comfortable, I had fun, and that is what I will try to do again tomorrow. We want to keep improving because we are in good form and we need to make the most of it.”
In fourth it was another high-profile performance to impress as Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) leapt up the timesheets late on. The Malaysian was not only top rookie by some margin, he was also top Yamaha.
Hafizh Syahrin – P4
“Today I felt really good with the bike. The bike and me work very well together, so I have to thank my guys a lot. We were working hard during the nine races in the beginning and after the summer break I’m back in great shape. I tried to understand all the main things and it worked well. At the moment we are provisionally in Q2, but of course we know, that tomorrow morning will be interesting to really find out where we are. I try to be focused, keep calm and try to ride smooth, because on this flowing track I can truly discover how to ride in a good way without pushing too hard. In the end, I’m really happy that our work is paying off. Tomorrow, my goal is to go to Q2 directly.”
Tech3 Yamaha teammate Johann Zarco had also shown some good form in the morning to top FP1 but could only improve marginally in the heat of FP2 to end day one P9 on combined times.
Johann Zarco – P9
“It was good to restart. FP1 has been pretty good. With the new medium tyre I did a great lap time and was happy to be first. In the afternoon it was very hot. The good thing is, that we could try almost all the tyres and understand, plus getting some feeling, which is very important to prepare the rest of the weekend. On the last exit with the new soft tyre, I have been unlucky. Because on the two fast laps that I was supposed to do, I had to overtake slower riders and lost time. It’s a pity to not be able to do a very good lap time in the end, but we are inside the top 10, which is a great sign for tomorrow.”
Behind Syahrin was Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), the Italian was the first to set a time attack on new tyres in the latter stages of FP2. He led briefly but rounded out the top five by the end of play on Friday – just head of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP pairing Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi.
Andrea Dovizioso – P5
“Today was a very prolific day of work and we were able to try a lot of things in view of the race. Our pace is good, we already have some clear ideas about the set-up and the tyres, and we’re quick. At the end of the second session we didn’t want to put on the soft tyres but we were inside the top ten anyway. Now we have to try and work to improve our race pace a bit more, but all in all I’m really happy with my first day here at Brno.”
Maverick Viñales initially struggled to find the right set-up on the first day of the Czech GP, but persevered. He caught up at the end of the afternoon session, securing sixth position in the combined rankings. Valentino Rossi spent the scorching hot day improving his pace and rode to seventh place in FP2.
Maverick Viñales – P6
“It’s been good, because I think the bike was not working perfectly yet, but we’re still quite close to the top, especially with our rhythm. We have to keep working, there’s room to improve and we need to keep pushing. The feeling with the tyres is good, I felt good the whole time with all types of tyres, we just need to make it work. Honestly, today has been difficult, it was really hot. It seems it will be like this the whole weekend, so we have to hurry up on the set-up because at the moment it’s not ready yet. I will try to keep up the pace I had at the previous GPs. Brno maybe isn’t the best track for me, but the bike is working well. We know we can do great.”
Valentino Rossi – P7
“Being back on the bike is always a good feeling. Today the conditions were very difficult because it was very hot, so physically it’s very demanding and it’s especially hard on the tyres. In fact, the level is still a bit difficult to understand. A lot of top riders tried different tyre options. I tried the soft and the medium, but not the hard option, which isn’t looking so bad because here the tyre degradation – especially the rear – is quite high. After some laps the rear slides quite a lot, so we still have a lot of work to do. We’ll see what our pace will be like tomorrow.”
Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) took P8 to just pip Zarco by 0.014 and was another Independent Team Ducati rider to put in an impressive performance, with reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) left to round out the top ten.
Marc Marquez set the third fastest time in the morning and then, following his usual path of work, spent all FP2 on the same set of hard Michelin tyres, focusing on his race pace and closing the day in tenth place, just 0.659 down from his teammate.
Marc Marquez – P10
“We started with a good setup because we did a really good test here one month ago. The conditions are different as it’s extremely hot now and that means we had to adjust the setup. We’ve worked on it, and already we’re used to spending the whole first session on medium tyres and the second one on hard tyres, which I was able to make a good final lap time with, so we can say that we’re happy with how the day went. We’re a bit behind in the ranking but we worked well on the rhythm and we’re close in terms of the gap from the top. Dovi has done many laps on used tyres and Dani has also has been fast today so let’s wait and see, tomorrow we’ll understand better where we all are. So far, we think the hard front tyre will be the choice for Sunday while we need to make more tests for the rear choice. They say it may rain on Sunday but I hope it’ll stay dry, even if it’s very hot, because it’s less risky to make mistakes. Of course in case of rain we’ll try and make a good race!”
Jack Miller – P13
“The feeling is good. We worked hard trying to figure out which is the best tyre choice for the race. In terms of pace, the sensations are very positive. In the time attack with the soft rubber at the rear, I couldn’t get the most out of it. I felt I had a lot of grip and maybe I didn’t push to the limit. Tomorrow we will try to take the Q2”.
A host of usual top flight suspects found themselves out of provisional Q2 graduation on Friday, including former Brno winners Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) in P14 and Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) in P15.
Jorge Lorenzo – P15
“It was a very complicated day for me today: I didn’t have any feeling with the front but above all I was lacking grip with the rear tyre and for this reason I’m a lot further back than I thought. During the two sessions we weren’t able to improve the bike and, despite the modifications we made, we’re still some way off the pace of the quickest riders. Maybe if I had put on new tyres at the end I could have finished the day closer to the leaders, but in any case I didn’t have either the speed or the consistency. Tomorrow we’ll make a radical change to the set-up and try and get directly into Q2.”
A seventh Honda is on track at Brno with HRC MotoGP test rider Stefan Bradl is racing as a wildcard at Brno. The German was P8 in FP1 but ended the day P16 on combined times.
Stefan Bradl – P16
“All in all, it was a good day for us. This morning in particular I immediately felt good on the bike and was able to do some good lap times. It was nice to find myself in a top-10 position. This afternoon our main target was working on used tyres, but we struggled a bit because the grip level in the hot temperatures was very low. We tried a couple of setup adjustments that didn’t work out as we expected. We’ll work on our data to make some changes, as we aim to be as fast on used tyres in high temperatures as we were in the fresher morning conditions.”
The hot conditions are testing not only the riders but also the tyres. Come Sunday when they line up for the 21-lap race tyre choice will be crucial and the conditions are making that choice not a simple one.
MotoGP 2018 – Round Ten – Brno
Friday Combined Practice Times
- PEDROSA Dani SPA Repsol Honda Team 1’55.976
- PETRUCCI Danilo ITA Alma Pramac Ducati 0.123
- BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA Angel Nieto Ducati 0.168
- SYAHRIN Hafizh MAL Monster Yamaha Tech3 0.224
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA Ducati Team 0.242
- VINALES Maverick SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 0.416
- ROSSI Valentino ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 0.504
- RABAT Tito SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 0.545
- ZARCO Johann FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 0.559
- MARQUEZ Marc SPA Repsol Honda Team 0.659
- IANNONE Andrea ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar 0.668
- RINS Alex SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar 0.685
- MILLER Jack AUS Alma Pramac Ducati 0.939
- CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR LCR Honda 1.038
- LORENZO Jorge SPA Ducati Team 1.229
- BRADL Stefan GER Team HRC Honda 1.315
- ESPARGARO Aleix SPA Aprilia Racing 1.441
- ESPARGARO Pol SPA Red Bull KTM 1.497
- MORBIDELLI Franco ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1.522
- SMITH Bradley GBR Red Bull KTM 1.530
- NAKAGAMI Takaaki JPN LCR Honda 1.671
- LUTHI Tom SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1.753
- REDDING Scott GBR Aprilia Racing Team 1.965
- GUINTOLI Sylvain FRA Team Suzuki Ecstar 2.138
- ABRAHAM Karel CZE Angel Nieto Team 2.151
- SIMEON Xavier BEL Reale Avintia Racing
Moto2
One second covers the top twenty
Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) stamped his authority on the Moto2 grid at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky after going quickest in both FP1 and FP2, ending Friday 0.201 ahead of Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) in second, with Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) a further 0.040 back in third place.
The German’s gap at the top was cut from 0.423 after FP1 with Bagnaia climbing up one place to second in the afternoon, but it’s looking good for Schrötter to challenge for a maiden podium or even victory this weekend.
Just behind Pasini – who improved from P6 to P3 in FP2 – was Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in fourth place, jumping up one position after his fifth place in FP1. The Spaniard is looking strong after his big crash at the Sachsenring, can he challenge for the front row in qualifying? Rounding out the top five on the combined timesheets was Fabio Quartararo (Boost – Speed Up Racing), improving on his final run after languishing down in P20 in the early stages of FP2. The Frenchman finished P9 in FP1 and ended Friday as the only non-Kalex rider inside the top 11.
0.390 back from Schrötter was sixth place overall Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), who lost out to Quartararo by just 0.007 seconds on the opening day as the Spaniard aims to build on his top ten last time out in Germany. FP1’s second placed rider Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers Team) ended the day in seventh and as top rookie, 0.037 ahead of reigning Moto3 World Champion Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who propelled himself into eighth in FP2 after finishing FP1 in 13th.
Pons HP40 rider Lorenzo Baldassarri was ninth overall, improving from P11 in the morning, with Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) rounding out the top ten after the opening two Free Practice sessions at the Czech GP. Championship challenger Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo), meanwhile, finished Friday in P12.
Moto3
Philipp Oettl’s (Sudmetal Schedl GP Racing) FP1 time was enough to keep him at the top of the combined timesheets on the opening day in Moto3 at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky, however the German was unable to improve his time in FP2 – a session that saw Kazuki Masaki (RBA BOE Skull Rider) go fastest with a 2:09.288, 0.043 ahead of second place Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and 0.056 quicker than Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46).
The biggest headline of the day, however, was a crash for the unlucky Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3). An FP1 crash at Turn 10 resulted in the Championship leader fracturing his left radius, which means he misses the remainder of the Czech GP as he flies back to Barcelona for surgery.
Jorge Martin
“What can I say… we were doing great in free practice, we tried both tyre compounds and when I had the medium tyre on my riding was flawless. Then, unfortunately, I lost the front-end a bit on corner exit and I crashed while opening the throttle. It was not a big crash, but the landing on the hand was heavy. Now we need to focus on tomorrow’s surgery and see if it’s possible to return in Austria.”
Back at the front, Oettl ended FP2 in P10, 0.602 behind Masaki who was down in P18 after FP1, but an improvement of nearly 1.5 seconds sees him sit just 0.094 off the German in second on the combined timesheets. Canet ends Friday in Brno as the third fastest rider after a strong day at the office, finishing fourth in FP1 and second in FP2, with Bulega fourth on the combined times.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) rounds out the top five after finishing FP1 in eighth; the Spaniard finished fourth in FP2 to go into Saturday 0.189 off the top spot. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) is sixth fastest overall, improving from P11 in the morning, with Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) a solid seventh quickest on the combined timesheets – jumping up from P15 in FP1.
The unlucky Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) is eighth on the combined timesheets, ahead of RBA BOE Skull Rider’s Gabriel Rodrigo in ninth – a great improvement after finishing FP1 in 23rd. Former Brno winner John McPhee (CIP Green Power) was tenth quickest on his KTM machine but failed to improve his FP1 time.
