Jorge Lorenzo continued his brilliant run of form in Misano, often termed as Rossi's backyard. The Spaniard started off the weekend on a high, topping FP2 and FP3 and lapping consistently in the low and mid 1:33s which might be the race pace for tomorrow's epic battle on the Adriatic coast.
Lorenzo set the benchmark pace- a 1:32.3, which was tough to beat even by the likes of Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez. The Majorcan went on to improve his laptime to an incredible 1:32.146, the fastest ever lap on two wheels on the newly resurfaced Misano world circuit Marco Simoncelli and almost eight tenths inside the previous lap record (Marc Marquez-1:32.915, 2013). Lorenzo used his tire allocation completely (all his three Medium compound tires) and would've lapped the circuit in the high 1:31's if not for Valentino Rossi, who strayed in his racing line while he was on his third stint.
Marc Marquez was set to bounce back after his unfortunate DNF at Silverstone two weeks ago, and he did it as he always does. His Incredible pace even forced Lorenzo to do a third stint but fell short by 0.106 seconds, locking out the middle of the first row. The Two-time MotoGP world champion has never won here at Misano, and keeps an eye on the top step of the podium in tomorrow's race.
Valentino Rossi initially struggled on Friday practice, but he rapidly cut the gap between him and the front-runners from almost 0.8 seconds to just 0.21 seconds in Q2. The Nine time champion will aim for his fifth win in the season and extend his points lead in front of his Home crowd. (Rossi's hometown Tavuilla is just about 10 kilometres from the circuit). His 1:32.358 set him on the front row only for the third time in this season.
UPDATE: Valentino Rossi has been imposed a single penalty point by Race direction for straying in #99 (Lorenzo)'s racing line.
Another potential threat for the top step is Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, his final stint almost demoted Valentino Rossi to the second row but was just 0.076 seconds shy of the Italian. The 29 year old spaniard will be alongside Ducati's wildcard test rider Michele Pirro and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) on the second row of the grid.
Row #3 of the grid belongs to Ducati and the Italians, as Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone (Ducati team) and Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) set themselves on the third row. Petrucci, who will stick with Pramac for 2016 has got the upgraded Desmosedici GP14.2 after his sensational podium at Silverstone, made it to Q2 directly, thus out-qualifying his Team mate Yonny Hernandez.
Q1 was filled with loads of drama as expected, with the likes of Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia MarcVDS Honda), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and the two factory Suzukis of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales competing for the two spots. Redding and Crutchlow set the best times during their first stints, when the two Suzukis bounced back to get a 1-2. Crutchlow eventually finished second to Aleix Espargaro's Suzuki GSX-RR, who used his allocation of soft option tires perfectly. Aleix will start from 10th, while Cal will be starting from 11th on the grid.
Tune in to MotoGP.com and tensports.com for tomorrow's race. The Sunday licks off at 14:30 hours IST, with MotoGP at 05:30 in the evening.
By: Suraj
Lorenzo set the benchmark pace- a 1:32.3, which was tough to beat even by the likes of Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez. The Majorcan went on to improve his laptime to an incredible 1:32.146, the fastest ever lap on two wheels on the newly resurfaced Misano world circuit Marco Simoncelli and almost eight tenths inside the previous lap record (Marc Marquez-1:32.915, 2013). Lorenzo used his tire allocation completely (all his three Medium compound tires) and would've lapped the circuit in the high 1:31's if not for Valentino Rossi, who strayed in his racing line while he was on his third stint. Marc Marquez was set to bounce back after his unfortunate DNF at Silverstone two weeks ago, and he did it as he always does. His Incredible pace even forced Lorenzo to do a third stint but fell short by 0.106 seconds, locking out the middle of the first row. The Two-time MotoGP world champion has never won here at Misano, and keeps an eye on the top step of the podium in tomorrow's race.
Valentino Rossi initially struggled on Friday practice, but he rapidly cut the gap between him and the front-runners from almost 0.8 seconds to just 0.21 seconds in Q2. The Nine time champion will aim for his fifth win in the season and extend his points lead in front of his Home crowd. (Rossi's hometown Tavuilla is just about 10 kilometres from the circuit). His 1:32.358 set him on the front row only for the third time in this season.
UPDATE: Valentino Rossi has been imposed a single penalty point by Race direction for straying in #99 (Lorenzo)'s racing line.
Another potential threat for the top step is Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, his final stint almost demoted Valentino Rossi to the second row but was just 0.076 seconds shy of the Italian. The 29 year old spaniard will be alongside Ducati's wildcard test rider Michele Pirro and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) on the second row of the grid.
Row #3 of the grid belongs to Ducati and the Italians, as Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone (Ducati team) and Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) set themselves on the third row. Petrucci, who will stick with Pramac for 2016 has got the upgraded Desmosedici GP14.2 after his sensational podium at Silverstone, made it to Q2 directly, thus out-qualifying his Team mate Yonny Hernandez.
Q1 was filled with loads of drama as expected, with the likes of Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia MarcVDS Honda), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and the two factory Suzukis of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales competing for the two spots. Redding and Crutchlow set the best times during their first stints, when the two Suzukis bounced back to get a 1-2. Crutchlow eventually finished second to Aleix Espargaro's Suzuki GSX-RR, who used his allocation of soft option tires perfectly. Aleix will start from 10th, while Cal will be starting from 11th on the grid.
Tune in to MotoGP.com and tensports.com for tomorrow's race. The Sunday licks off at 14:30 hours IST, with MotoGP at 05:30 in the evening.
By: Suraj