Determined Marquez leads the way at Brno on Friday
World champion sets early pace in rain-affected opening day.
Source: MotoGP.
MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez was Friday’s quickest rider at the bwin Grand Prix České republiky with his best lap of 1m56.803 in FP1, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. The rain arrived later and the riders spent FP2 refining their wet set-ups.
Undefeated so far in his title defence season, Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was quickest on the overall Friday timesheets, with all the riders setting their best laps in FP1 as the rain fell just as FP2 got underway.
In the morning session Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) trailed Marquez by just 0.037s and 0.052s respectively.
Behind the front three, it was Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) also in the top five. Rossi is set to make his 245th GP start in the premier class on Sunday, equalling Alex Barros who currently holds the record for most starts in the top class of grand prix racing.
Friday’s fastest top ten was completed by Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing), Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3).
In FP2 Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) topped the timesheet ahead of Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) with 2m03.179 and 2m04.462 times, as they got laps in on dry set-ups before the rain fell. Barbera crashed just before the FP2 session concluded, as the Spaniard started his 200th GP weekend.
Marquez, Pedrosa, Rossi, Crutchlow and Lorenzo were the fastest five riders in the wet afternoon conditions.
Australia’s Broc Parkes was 24th on the second of the PBM entries, amongst a close pack of Open class entries toward the rear-end of the field.
2014 MotoGP World Championship
Round 11 – Brno, Czech Republic
MotoGP Friday practice results:
1. Marc MARQUEZ 1m56.803
2. Jorge LORENZO 1m56.840
3. Dani PEDROSA 1m56.855
4. Aleix ESPARGARO 1m57.002
5. Valentino ROSSI 1m57.065
6. Stefan BRADL 1m57.084
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 1m57.169
8. Yonny HERNANDEZ 1m57.190
9. Pol ESPARGARO 1m57.634
10. Bradley SMITH 1m57.816
11. Michele PIRRO 1m58.040
12. Andrea IANNONE 1m58.061
13. Scott REDDING 1m58.301
14. Cal CRUTCHLOW 1m58.340
15. Alvaro BAUTISTA 1m58.698
16. Hector BARBERA 1m58.714
17. Hiroshi AOYAMA 1m58.895
18. Karel ABRAHAM 1m59.216
19. Alex DE ANGELIS 1m59.959
20. Mike DI MEGLIO 2m00.240
21. Michael LAVERTY 2m00.345
22. Leon CAMIER 2m00.445
23. Danilo PETRUCCI 2m00.497
24. Broc PARKES (AUS) 2m00.752
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