MotoGP Catalunya: Jorge Lorenzo leads a bevy of satellite bikes in FP2

Published on 01 Jun 2012 by Toni M.

jorge lorenzo le mans 2012

It was a hot second MotoGP second free practice and not only because the asphalt temperatures at Catalunya were at searing 51°C, but because Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo topped the timesheets (1.42.099 - under the race lap record) suprisingly lead a bevy of satellite bikes that jumped to the remaining top spots when several riders switched to the softer rear tire in the final exciting minutes of the session, that seemed more like qualifying than practice.

Alvaro Baustista on his Gresini Honda RC213V was the second fastest rider of the grid and 0.207s adrift from his fellow countryman. Yamaha Tech3 duo Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso were 3rd and 4th, respectively while Hector Barbera was the best Ducati rider on the grid as he was a little more than a half a second adrift with his outdated satellite GP12 Valencia 0 version.

Ben Spies on the factory Yamaha took the sixth spot after having lead the timesheets for a brief moment in the finale, while Dani Pedrosa was 7th, but reigning World Champion Casey Stoner who was on top in this morning’s free practice dropped to 10th and was more than a second adrift, but apparently he, Pedrosa and Rossi didn’t use the softer rear tire deeming it unnecessary if temperatures continue to be this high, as the softer tire won’t last the entire race distance.

Stefan Bradl was 8th with Ducati’s Nicky Hayden in 9th and the last rider to be within a second and leaving a 0.958 gap compared to Lorenzo. Karel Abraham was 11th, while Valentino Rossi was the last prototype rider in 12th and back to losing his usual 1.4 seconds all over the circuit despite having the second top speed of 336,4 km.

Aleix Espargaro led the CRT’s this afternoon in 13th, as he was a mere 0.033s faster than his Aspar team mate Randy de Puniet and 2.639 from Lorenzo. Mattia Pasini was 19th after a harmless crash, while a despondent Danilo Petrucci was last after suffering a technical difficulty on Ioda TR003 and he unfortunately pays the price of using the same Aprilia RSV4 engine in Superstock trim for the last four race weekends which can barely reach 300km/h on the straight.

MotoGP Catalunya FP2 results:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1’42.099
02- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.207
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.348
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.493
05- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.540
06- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.703
07- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.771
08- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.844
09- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.958
10- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 1.035
11- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.242
12- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.439
13- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.639
14- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.672
15- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 3.532
16- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 3.769
17- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – BQR MotoGP – + 4.351
18- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – BQR MotoGP – + 4.401
19- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 4.404
20- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.737
21- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 5.337