Image: Supplied.

Mugello race winner Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) was the man to beat on the opening day at Catalunya, ending FP2 top of the time-sheets.

Lorenzo posted a 1m38.930s as the only rider to step under the 1m39s bracket to go fastest overall. The Spaniard improved his time by over 0.8 seconds from FP1 after finishing third in the morning.

In second it was Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who was able to bounce back after a crash in FP1 and the Italian was the only rider to get within 0.4s of the number 99 on Friday. One of the biggest talking points from the opening day was championship leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) finishing 12th quickest.

Meanwhile, third on the combined times was Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Vinales, improving his time by over half a second from FP1 to round out the top three in the afternoon, 0.492s off Lorenzo’s quickest lap. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was second in FP1, with the Italian slipping down to fourth quickest overall.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), quickest in FP1, was the only rider in the top 11 who failed to go quicker in the afternoon session. The Italian finished in P11 in FP2, but his time of 1m39.456s from FP1 was enough to see ‘The Doctor’ end the day fifth-fastest overall.

It was Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) sixth fastest, from Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing), Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and impressive newcomer Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 10th overall.

In Moto2, Francesco Bagnaia’s (Sky Racing Team VR46) FP1 time was enough to keep the championship leader at the top of the combined time-sheets, leading a trio of Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who all set a time of 1m44.340s.

Moto3 championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PrustelGP) set the quickest time of the day on his final run in FP2 to take top honours on Friday, beating teammate Jakub Kornfeil by a slender 0.055 seconds, as Jerez race winner Philipp Oettl (Sudmetall Schedl GP Racing) made it a KTM 1-2-3.

Detailed results