2013 Qatar MotoGP | Honda’s Marquez Tops Free Practice 2

2013 Qatar MotoGP FP2 Results

During Thursday’s Free Practice 1 session at Losail International Circuit for Qatar MotoGP, the top three prototypes were Yamaha YZR-M1s, led by the reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo.

The fastest Honda was the Repsol RC213V piloted by Marc Marquez, the Spaniard taking fourth. But things changed for the rookie following Free Practice 2 Friday evening. Marquez took the top spot with a 1:56.477, the fastest time of the weekend so far.

Marquez’s lap around the 3.343-mile circuit was 0.268 of a second quicker than his compatriot Lorenzo, and 0.328 of a second quicker than Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi. During FP2, Lorenzo piloted Yamaha’s 2013-spec chassis, even though the team had previously declared it would not be using it in Qatar; direct comparisons with the older version cannot yet be drawn because of the changeable conditions, although it was on this version that his fastest time came, MotoGP reports.

Fourth quickest, 0.692 of a second behind Lorenzo was Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow, though if you combine times of FP1 and FP2 the Brit is ahead of Rossi. Next was LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl; the German was 0.780 of a second behind, and the final rider to post within a second of Marquez.

The fastest Ducati was once again Andrea Dovizioso on the factory GP13. The Italian was 1.356 seconds behind Marquez, and was followed 0.044 of a second by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Rounding out the top 10 were Ducati’s Nicky Hayden, Ignite Pramac Ducati’s Ben Spies and GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista.

The top CRT bike was Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró, who was 2.154 seconds behind Marquez.

MotoGP reports that from this season onwards, the first three practice sessions of the race weekend have a direct bearing on qualifying. Once the practice time sheets are combined, the top ten riders will are placed directly into Saturday’s new Q2 qualifying period. Prior to that, Q1 will decide grid positions 13 and downwards, while the quickest pair of riders from Q1 will proceed to Q2 and create a 12-rider shootout for pole position.

The third and final free practice session gets underway at 8:55 p.m. local time.

2013 Qatar MotoGP Free Practice 2 Results: