Espargaro fastest on Friday again

Aleix Espargaro set the best lap in the MotoGP™ FP2 run at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland on Friday, outpacing Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo at the head of the timesheet at the Sachsenring.

FP1 saw the NGM Mobile Forward Yamaha rider top the session with a 1:22.170 ahead of Marquez (Repsol Honda), who suffered a heavy crash. The first session was spent on the Yamaha chassis. Espargaro’s fast time came in the closing minutes as he took advantage of the soft tire available to Open class riders.

The second practice session saw him spend the majority of time on the Forward chassis as the Spaniard continued to evaluate the differences between the two. The Forward chassis had several pros, but was less responsive in the change of direction according to the rider.

Espargaro once again topped the session in the closing minutes, although this was done on his Yamaha chassis. A 1:22.041 put him top of FP2 and top on the combined times.

“I feel great, and it was fantastic to ride here, like last year. We explored a lot of different settings on both the Yamaha and Forward bikes. I was really happy with our first day. I did my fast laps with the Yamaha frame, I think I can be faster on the Forward frame because it is a little bit better in the tight corners,” he commented.

“Tomorrow I think I’ll use Forward in qualifying, we’re still experimenting a lot. I did 22 laps on the rear soft, it was strong till the end. I think we can race with the soft like in Assen but the temperature can change a lot here in Germany.”

World Champion Marquez ended the session 0.117s behind compatriot Espargaro.

The Marquez crash came in FP1 on his fifth lap at turn two, where the reigning World Champion and current championship leader made a small mistake and engaged third gear, causing a vicious high side where he landed heavily on the side of his head and left him with a painful neck.

He was able to go back out on track and record a fastest time of 1:22.767 (lap 11 of 17), finishing sixth for the session.

After receiving treatment to his neck, Marquez was able to improve his time by six tenths with a fastest time of 1:22.158 (lap 6 of 20) in FP2, putting him second fastest for the day.

“The day went very well, because even though I crashed I was fortunate not to get injured, but the impact was hard,” Marquez admitted. “The crash was a little strange, but when we looked at the telemetry later on we understood why it happened. It’s a long left turn in second gear on the throttle the whole time, and I accidentally touched the gear shift lever with the toe of my boot. This engaged another gear and as I was leant so far over – and had the gas open – the rear wheel slid out and I was thrown off.

“The afternoon session was really good and I felt comfortable on the bike again. l was able to put in a good lap, but most importantly I kept up a strong pace.”

Another Spaniard, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Lorenzo kept out of trouble at a track where he had a big crash last year in practice and missed the 2013 race. Lorenzo was third fastest, trailing Espargaro by 0.327s.

“It went quite well today,” said the man from Mallorca. “We were always within the top three. The bike is working well. It’s more stable than it was in Montmelo and in Assen, so in terms of pace I’m quite good and also the braking is good. We just need to improve some small details to fight for first row tomorrow. Also, physically I am better than ever, so I feel strong.”

Home rider Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) and his fellow Honda equipped rival Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) were fourth and fifth.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was sixth fastest overall, lapping just over 0.4s slower than pace setter Espargaro – the Italian’s best time came in FP1.

The top 10 was completed by Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) – who walked away from a high speed FP2 crash at turn 12.

The top 16 riders were separated by less than a second at the short, tight and twisting German track.

Turn 12 also saw another FP2 crash, for Michael Laverty (Paul Bird Motorsport), who was unhurt and ended the day 14th. His teammate Broc Parkes was down in 23rd and crashed in FP1.

Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) crashed twice in FP1 and ended the day 11th best overall.

The Friday afternoon action at the Sachsenring was rounded off with Mika Kallio marking the best time of Moto2™ FP2, ahead of next best pair Esteve Rabat and Simone Corsi on the combined timesheet.

As the first day of action at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland drew to a close Kallio outpaced his closest rival and teammate Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) by just 0.074s.

Behind the leading pair, Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) was third best overall, with his best time coming in FP1 – that lap just under a tenth slower than Rabat’s best.

Behind the Finn, the Spaniard and the Italian in the top three, fourth best was Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert), with German representative Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) going round fifth quickest on the first day of his home GP.

Jack Miller was the pace setting rider in the second practice session of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland for the Moto3™ class, with Alexis Masbou and Danny Kent also in the top three.

Having also led in the morning session Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) put in a 1:27.302 in sunny conditions at the 3.67km Sachsenring track on Friday afternoon. Miller aims to bounce back from his Assen DNF this weekend in Germany and extend his lead at the top of the World Championship standings before the summer break.

Behind him on the FP2 timesheet were Frenchman Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) and Englishman Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo), trailing the Australian by 0.255s and 0.362s respectively.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Practice Times (courtesy Repsol Honda)