Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was the quickest rider Friday during the first free practice session at Brno, and for most of the second.
But in a last-lap effort, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl took the top FP2 time off Lorenzo. Bradl piloted his RC213V a 1:56.500 around the 3.34-mile circuit. Lorenzo trailed Bradl by 0.038 of a second. Taking the third-quickest time during Free Practice 2 was last year’s winner at Brno, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa; the Spaniard was 0.1 of a second behind Bradl.
Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “We can be happy with this first place but I want to keep my feet on the ground. It looks good on the paper but I am still not 100% happy with the bike setting and this is the reason why we have struggled in the first free session this morning. We need to work on the front part of the bike as we do not absorb the bumps as good as I want. I think we have more potential than this but we need to be more consistent tomorrow because the other guys will push to qualify in the front.”
Fourth quickest was Lorenzo’s teammate, Valentino Rossi. The nine-time World Champion finished 0.226 of a second behind Bradl. Rossi edged out the current MotoGP points leader, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, by 0.007 of a second. Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow was the last of the quickest riders, the Brit posting 0.300 of a second back.
A further 0.551 of a second behind Crtuchlow was his teammate Bradley Smith, who was followed by GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, who was the final rider to post within a second of Bradl.
Taking the ninth quickest time, 1.254 seconds behind Marquez, was Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian was followed 0.142 of a second back by teammate Nicky Hayden in ninth.
During last weekend’s Indy MotoGP, Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati’s Ben Spies sustained new injuries in a practice crash. He underwent further surgery, and once again substituting for him on the GP13 is Michele Pirro. The Ducati test rider finished 13th quickest.
Austria’s Martin Bauer made his debut as a wildcard with his privately-entered Remus Racing Team outfit, ending the day 23rd in the 25-rider field. Local Czech favorites Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, riding with an injured shoulder) and Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing Project) finished proceedings in respective 22nd and 24th spots.
The only rider to crash during Friday’s sessions was Gresini’s Bryan Staring, who lost control of his CRT in the first practice session.
The riders will return to the Brno circuit Saturday morning for Free Practice 3, which gets underway ahead of qualifying.
2013 Brno MotoGP Free Practice 2 Results:
1 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 311.6 1’56.500
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 308.4 1’56.538 0.038 / 0.038
3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 314.6 1’56.600 0.100 / 0.062
4 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 309.4 1’56.726 0.226 / 0.126
5 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 312.5 1’56.733 0.233 / 0.007
6 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 308.0 1’56.800 0.300 / 0.067
7 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 308.4 1’57.351 0.851 / 0.551
8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 309.1 1’57.401 0.901 / 0.050
9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 306.2 1’57.754 1.254 / 0.353
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 308.3 1’57.896 1.396 / 0.142
11 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 304.9 1’58.039 1.539 / 0.143
12 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 295.1 1’58.217 1.717 / 0.178
13 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 306.4 1’58.958 2.458 / 0.741
14 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR 297.0 1’59.235 2.735 / 0.277
15 71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 292.2 1’59.288 2.788 / 0.053
16 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 295.7 1’59.390 2.890 / 0.102
17 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Paul Bird Motorsport ART 289.1 1’59.539 3.039 / 0.149
18 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR 294.3 1’59.613 3.113 / 0.074
19 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 293.4 1’59.719 3.219 / 0.106
20 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 289.9 1’59.799 3.299 / 0.080
21 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 296.1 2’00.338 3.838 / 0.539
22 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing ART 296.6 2’00.413 3.913 / 0.075
23 45 Martin BAUER AUT Remus Racing Team S&B Suter 281.9 2’00.730 4.230 / 0.317
24 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 289.3 2’01.549 5.049 / 0.819
25 67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda 291.1 2’01.746 5.246 / 0.197
