German Grand Prix Saturday round up, Free Practices: Everyone’s crashing, but who’s staying upright?
There are news stories everywhere about Jorge Lorenzo’s highside – probably caused by a combination of cold tyre, over confidence and a desire to prove he’s the best even with an injury – and Dani Pedrosa’s higher highside. Pedrosa’s crash, also due to a cold tyre, could have been caused by a lack of focus. After Lorenzo was ruled out of the Sachsenring race, Pedrosa’s aim for the weekend was taken away.
The first session of Saturday was FP3, and Marc Marquez was the fastest by a decent quarter of a second…from Aleix Espargaro. The CRT rider was stunning in the middle two sectors, showing that a sweet handling bike really can make a big difference. He was the second fastest rider in the session by almost two tenths, and over a second faster than his teammate. No one knew what to expect with the CRT machines, but with the ART Aprilia, Aleix Espargaro has found a machine that he can setup and push to the absolute limit.
After the first three Free Practices, the fastest riders and their times look like this (note Espargaro in at number 4, and Lorenzo still third):
FP1, FP2 and FP3 combined times:
Pos. | Rider | Team | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Lead. gap | Prev. gap |
1 | M.MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’22.397 | 1’22.251 | 1’21.903 | ||
2 | S.BRADL | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1’22.460 | 1’22.030 | 1’22.389 | 0.127 | 0.127 |
3 | J. LORENZO | Yamaha Factory Racing | 1’22.047 | 1’22.252 | 0.144 | 0.017 | |
4 | A.ESPARGARO | Power Electronics Aspar | 1’22.641 | 1’22.763 | 1’22.129 | 0.226 | 0.099 |
5 | D.PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | 1’22.221 | 1’22.239 | 0.318 | 0.092 | |
6 | V.ROSSI | Yamaha Factory Racing | 1’22.241 | 1’22.395 | 1’22.306 | 0.338 | 0.020 |
7 | C.CRUTCHLOW | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’22.469 | 1’23.932 | 1’22.377 | 0.474 | 0.136 |
8 | N.HAYDEN | Ducati Team | 1’22.816 | 1’22.572 | 1’22.874 | 0.669 | 0.195 |
9 | A.BAUTISTA | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1’22.882 | 1’22.976 | 1’22.614 | 0.711 | 0.042 |
10 | B.SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’23.726 | 1’23.040 | 1’22.758 | 0.855 | 0.144 |
11 | A.DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’23.068 | 1’22.850 | 1’23.063 | 0.947 | 0.092 |
12 | A.IANNONE | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing | 1’23.578 | 1’23.008 | 1’23.031 | 1.105 | 0.158 |
13 | R.DE PUNIET | Power Electronics Aspar | 1’23.131 | 1’23.255 | 1’23.174 | 1.228 | 0.123 |
14 | C.CORTI | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1’24.728 | 1’24.078 | 1’23.426 | 1.523 | 0.295 |
15 | M.PIRRO | Ignite Pramac Racing | 1’23.868 | 1’23.491 | 1’23.557 | 1.588 | 0.065 |
16 | Y.HERNANDEZ | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1’23.695 | 1’23.524 | 1’23.745 | 1.621 | 0.033 |
17 | H.BARBERA | Avintia Blusens | 1’23.672 | 1’23.627 | 1’23.556 | 1.653 | 0.032 |
18 | M.LAVERTY | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1’25.129 | 1’23.636 | 1’24.606 | 1.733 | 0.080 |
19 | D.PETRUCCI | Came IodaRacing Project | 1’24.575 | 1’23.866 | 1’23.842 | 1.939 | 0.206 |
20 | C.EDWARDS | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1’24.521 | 1’23.911 | 1’23.978 | 2.008 | 0.069 |
21 | H.AOYAMA | Avintia Blusens | 1’24.682 | 1’24.647 | 1’24.310 | 2.407 | 0.399 |
22 | K.ABRAHAM | Cardion AB Motoracing | 1’26.195 | 1’24.555 | 2.652 | 0.245 | |
23 | B.STARING | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1’24.798 | 1’24.862 | 1’25.873 | 2.895 | 0.243 |
24 | L.PESEK | Came IodaRacing Project | 1’27.172 | 1’25.568 | 1’27.617 | 3.665 | 0.770 |
In FP4, spectators around the world sat up and took notice as not only were the times dropping, Valentino Rossi sat at the top of the timings with the second fastest time of the weekend. Stefan Bradl meanwhile, fired up by his home grand prix, posted another 1’22.046 to add to his FP2 one. Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow – the Brit riding with bad grazes on his hand and arm – were also quick. Qualifying was clearly going to be between these four riders, and judging by the partial times, mid-1’21s would be the aim.
FP4 times:
Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Lead. gap | Prev. gap |
1 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha Factory Racing | 1’21.978 | ||
2 | Stefan BRADL | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1’22.046 | 0.068 | 0.068 |
3 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’22.115 | 0.137 | 0.069 |
4 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’22.280 | 0.302 | 0.165 |
5 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1’22.556 | 0.578 | 0.276 |
6 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Power Electronics Aspar | 1’22.775 | 0.797 | 0.219 |
7 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati Team | 1’22.855 | 0.877 | 0.080 |
8 | Bradley SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’22.980 | 1.002 | 0.125 |
9 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’23.115 | 1.137 | 0.135 |
10 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | Avintia Blusens | 1’23.238 | 1.260 | 0.123 |
11 | Claudio CORTI | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1’23.271 | 1.293 | 0.033 |
12 | Andrea IANNONE | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing | 1’23.313 | 1.335 | 0.042 |
13 | Michele PIRRO | Ignite Pramac Racing | 1’23.468 | 1.490 | 0.155 |
14 | Randy DE PUNIET | Power Electronics Aspar | 1’23.532 | 1.554 | 0.064 |
15 | Colin EDWARDS | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1’23.710 | 1.732 | 0.178 |
16 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1’23.754 | 1.776 | 0.044 |
17 | Michael LAVERTY | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1’24.055 | 2.077 | 0.301 |
18 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Came IodaRacing Project | 1’24.108 | 2.130 | 0.053 |
19 | Karel ABRAHAM | Cardion AB Motoracing | 1’24.454 | 2.476 | 0.346 |
20 | Hector BARBERA | Avintia Blusens | 1’24.578 | 2.600 | 0.124 |
21 | Bryan STARING | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1’25.120 | 3.142 | 0.542 |
22 | Lukas PESEK | Came IodaRacing Project | 1’25.336 | 3.358 | 0.216 |
Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team |
FP4 is also a good indicator of race pace, and it’s quite surprising. Marquez, Crutchlow and Bradl look solid, but Rossi didn’t turn that many fast, consistent laps. Take a look at the analysis. The first 4 places is surely taken by one of these riders, with the only question mark being over Cal Crutchlow’s injuries – can he perform through the pain at the end of the race?