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Espargaro tops Barcelona MotoGP practice

Friday afternoon's MotoGP FP2 at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya ended with Bradley Smith setting the pace, as Stefan Bradl and Marc Marquez joined him in the top three. Aleix Espargaro was Friday’s fastest rider overall courtesy of an FP1 hot lap.

Monster Yamaha Tech3's Smith set his best time of the afternoon with the track temperatures reaching over 50°C, his 1’42.123 lap well over a second quicker than he had gone in the morning.

The Briton ended the afternoon run just ahead of LCR Honda MotoGP’s Bradl and Repsol Honda Team Marquez, but it was NGM Forward Racing’s Espargaro who recorded the best time of the day (1’41.672) on a softer compound rear tire at his home track in the morning session.

Completing the top five on the combined timesheet was the race winner for the last two years at Barcelona-Catalunya, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) who was just over 0.6s down on Espargaro’s P1 time. Lorenzo’s best lap came in the afternoon heat, with the many riders using harder option front and rear tires in the Mediterranean sunshine.

Sixth and seventh overall were Italians Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) courtesy of their best times in FP1, with Iannone escaping unhurt from a turn 10 tumble into the gravel in the morning outing.

The overall top ten was completed by Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team).

Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) rode 32 laps over the course of the day as he assessed the condition of his right wrist, on which he had surgery after missing Mugello. He ended the day 19th overall.

Results

Pos Rider Num. Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'41.672
2 Bradley Smith 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'42.123
3 Stefan Bradl 6 GER LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'42.130
4 Marc Marquez 93 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'42.274
5 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 1'42.282
6 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'42.411
7 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA Yamaha Factory YAMAHA 1'42.423
8 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'42.608
9 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'42.664
10 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'42.812
11 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'42.833
12 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'42.860
13 Scott Redding 45 GBR Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'43.612
14 Michele Pirro 51 ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'43.644
15 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR Ducati Team DUCATI 1'43.725
16 Colin Edwards 5 USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'43.819
17 Karel Abraham 17 CZE Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA 1'43.905
18 Hector Barbera 8 ESP Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'43.961
19 Nicky Hayden 69 USA Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'44.008
20 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'44.096
21 Michael Laverty 70 GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM 1'44.450
22 Broc Parkes 23 AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1'44.681
23 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'45.482
24 Michel Fabrizio 84 ITA IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 1'47.297