Poor Marco:surprise:
From motomaters.com
Andrea Dovizioso has topped the first session of free practice for the MotoGP class at Le Mans. The Ducati rider was quick from the start of the session, among the group of riders swapping the lead throughout, before putting in a very quick lap at the end of the session to take a quarter of a second lead over 2nd place man Marc Marquez.
Marquez got off to a tricky start, twice suffering technical problems with his Honda RC213V. In the first half of practice, he was forced to park the bike up and then push it back the wrong way down pit lane to the Repsol Honda garage. Fortunately, he did so as directed by the marshals, thereby avoiding a penalty. Marquez was soon up to speed on his second bike, ending the session in 2nd. It was not apparent what the cause of the technical problems were, but the bike spent the rest of the session in the pits. With Marquez having already lost one engine, he cannot afford to suffer a problem with another. Jorge Lorenzo took 3rd spot, but more impressive than that was the strong string of fast laps he posted, continuing his form from Jerez.
Cal Crutchlow grabbed 4th slot, putting in a quick lap at the end of the session to leapfrog to within a hundredth of a second behind Lorenzo, and ahead of Pol Espargaro on the Tech 3 Yamaha. Scott Redding impressed, running inside the top 3 at the end of the session, and finishing 6th. The Jerez test was important for Redding, giving him a chance to learn a few more key tricks to mastering the factory Honda.
Valentino Rossi ended the session 7th, steadily working on his pace, and finishing ahead of the two Ducatis of Yonny Hernandez and Andrea Iannone. Iannone's lap was especially impressive, given that he was riding in pain after dislocating his shoulder severely on Tuesday. Bradley Smith rounded out the top 10, finishing just ahead of the Suzukis.
Results:
Pos No Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1'34.034
2 93 Marc Marquez Honda 1'34.280 0.246 0.246
3 99 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1'34.301 0.267 0.021
4 35 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'34.310 0.276 0.009
5 44 Pol Espargaro Yamaha 1'34.331 0.297 0.021
6 45 Scott Redding Honda 1'34.472 0.438 0.141
7 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'34.570 0.536 0.098
8 68 Yonny Hernandez Ducati 1'34.598 0.564 0.028
9 29 Andrea Iannone Ducati 1'34.721 0.687 0.123
10 38 Bradley Smith Yamaha 1'34.729 0.695 0.008
11 41 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki 1'34.854 0.820 0.125
12 25 Maverick Viñales Suzuki 1'35.254 1.220 0.400
13 26 Dani Pedrosa Honda 1'35.348 1.314 0.094
14 6 Stefan Bradl Yamaha Forward 1'35.367 1.333 0.019
15 69 Nicky Hayden Honda 1'35.510 1.476 0.143
16 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1'35.617 1.583 0.107
17 17 Karel Abraham Honda 1'35.690 1.656 0.073
18 63 Mike Di Meglio Ducati 1'35.697 1.663 0.007
19 19 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1'35.800 1.766 0.103
20 15 Alex De Angelis ART 1'35.802 1.768 0.002
21 8 Hector Barbera Ducati 1'35.825 1.791 0.023
22 43 Jack Miller Honda 1'35.835 1.801 0.010
23 76 Loris Baz Yamaha Forward 1'36.161 2.127 0.326
24 50 Eugene Laverty Honda 1'36.607 2.573 0.446
25 33 Marco Melandri Aprilia 1'36.973 2.939 0.366