Lorenzo Breaks Collarbone; Marquez Tops Assen MotoGP FP2

2013 Assen MotoGP Free Practice Two Results (Dutch TT)

Held under overcast conditions, the first free practice of the Dutch TT at Assen was dominated by Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo.

The Spaniard posted a 1:35.263 at the 2.822-mile circuit in the Netherlands, setting the fastest lap of the weekend so far. Lorenzo was en route to redeeming himself from the last two disastrous years where he suffered to first-lap crashes. But the curse continued when the second free practice got underway Thursday, this session held under rainy conditions.

Lorenzo was quick to begin, but suffered a huge high side at the fastest corner of Assen – the Hoge Heide section running up to Ramshoek, which precedes the Geert Timmer chicane.

During the MotoGP crash, Lorenzo broke his left collarbone, which will require surgery. Due to Lorenzo’s injury, the two-time MotoGP Champion will miss Sunday’s GP. He will remain in Assen until he departs Friday to Barcelona for surgery.

Speaking of the injuries, Dr. Xavier Mir, Chief of Hand Surgery at the Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona, says “Jorge has a high inertia trauma but results are normal from initial neurological examination. We will move to Assen to make head and chest scans and also an abdominal exploration. Our first diagnosis revealed that there is a left clavicle fracture with a slight shift that will need surgery to repair the bone. This injury is in the background while we rule out any other major injury that may become apparent within 24 hours.

“These kind of impacts at more than 200 km/h need some time for the body to recover to be able to discard any other major injuries. In principle tomorrow he can travel and within 48 hours he will be operable.”

Lorenzo was also coming off two back-to-back wins at Catalunya and Mugello, and was only seven points behind the current MotoGP points leader, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.

When things finished up in Free Practice 2, though, it was the rookie Marc Marquez who was fastest. But due to the inclement conditions, Marquez was 14 seconds slower than Lorenzo’s first-free practice time at the longest-running venue on the MotoGP calendar.

Only 0.252 of a second behind Marquez was nine-time MotoGP Champion Valentino Rossi. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider was followed by Pedrosa, who was 0.623 of a second off Marquez’s time.

Fourth quickest was the final rider to post within a second of Marquez, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl. The German was 1.065 seconds behind Marquez, and 0.088 of a second ahead of the fastest FP2 Ducati rider – Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso.

Dovi’s teammate Hayden was next, followed by Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and the fastest CRT rider, Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci.

There were also a few other accidents due to the tumultuous conditions, including crashes by the leader Marquez, Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing).

Espargaro, who has been the top CRT finisher in all six rounds so far this season, was attended to by the Medical Centre for some bruising.

More rain showers have been predicted for the remainder of the race weekend on Friday and Saturday. Third practice begins at 9:55 a.m. local time Friday.

2013 Assen Free Practice 2 Results (Dutch TT):