MotoGP Valencia: Lorenzo sets Friday pace, Marquez falls
Jorge Lorenzo fuelled his hopes of a 2017 Ducati victory by leading Friday practice forꩲ the Valencia MotoGP season finale.
Just twelfth in a chilly morning session, the triple MotoGP champion ruled the faster afternoon outing with a best lap time of 1m 30.640s, set on sof♏t tyres during his final run.
That put the Spaniard, winner of last year's event꧋ on his Yamaha farewell, 0.122s clear of Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, whose best lap came while using a medium front and soft rear.
J𒁃orge Lorenzo fuelled his hopes of a 2017 Ducati victory by lead🐓ing Friday practice for the Valencia MotoGP season finale.
Just twelfth in a chilly morning session, the triple MotoGP champi♐on ruled the faster afternoon outing with a best lap time of 1m 30.640s, set on soft tyres dur𝓀ing his final run.
That put the Spaniard, winner of last year's event on his Yamaha farewell, 0.122s clear of Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, whose best lap came while using🦩 a medium front and soft rear.
Lorenzo's team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who ꧅starts the final round 21 points from title leader Marc Marquez, completed a top three covered by 0.309s. The Italian also used the medium-soft tyres to set his quickest lap.
Marquez, who only need꧅s an eleventh-place finish (updated) even if Dovizioso wins on Sunday, suffered his 26th fall of the season on the w🐲ay to fifth place in both sessions. Marquez ran the hard front and soft rear throughout FP2.
Between Dovizioso and Marquez was top rookie and independen🌺t rider Johann Zarco who put his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine 0.414s from Lorenzo, using soft-soft tyres.
Jack Miller (Marc VDS Honda), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), wild-car🍃d Michele Pirro (Ducati), Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamꦍaha) and Pol Espargaro (KTM) completed the FP2 top ten.
Both Pol Espargaro and older brother Aleix (Aprilia) fell at the end of FP2. Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, a surprise faܫstest in this morning's FP1 session, also walked away from a big tumble, ending the session down in 18th.
Iannone,ℱ Miller, Pol ♑Espargaro, Mika Kallio and Danilo Petrucci failed to beat their best morning lap time.
But Iannone was fourth fastest on combined lap times, nudging Rossi outside of the top ten, with team-mate Maverick Vinales𒆙 in eleventh.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and�🐈� Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
