Pedrosa pours on throttle in Czech Moto GP hitout, Marquez 10th

SPANIARD Dani Pedrosa delivered the fastest time in free practice for the Czech Grand Prix on Friday, while compatriot and Honda teammate Marc Marquez, runaway championship leader, was only 10th best.

Spanish rider Marc Marquez during his free practice session for the Moto GP Grand Prix of the Czech Republic. Picture: AFP

SPANIARD Dani Pedrosa delivered the fastest time in free practice for the Czech Grand Prix on Friday, while compatriot and Honda teammate Marc Marquez, runaway championship leader, was only 10th best.

Pedrosa rode the quickest lap of the day in the dying moments of the second session recording a time of 1min 55.976 sec, 0.123 sec ahead of Italian Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Pramac) and 0.168 better than Spaniard Alvaro Bautista (Ducati).

Pedrosa won at Brno in 2012 and 2014 and during the second victory set the course record for fastest lap during a race at 1min 56.027 sec.

Marquez was 0.659 sec slower than his teammate on Friday but can still secure another pole position in Saturday’s sessions.

Repsol Honda MotoGP Team's Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa was on fire during a free practice session in Brno. Picture: AFP

Frenchman Johann Zarco (Yamaha Tech 3), who dominated the morning session, finished the day ninth fastest 0.559 behind Pedrosa.

In Moto2, German Marcel Schroetter (Kalex), eighth in the driver standings, finished 0.201 ahead of the championship leader Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex).

In Moto3, the time set by another German, Philipp Oettl (KTM) set a target of 2min 9.194 sec in the morning which survived the afternoon. The championship leader Jorge Martin (Honda) broke his left hand in a crash and flew back to Barcelona for surgery. He will miss the race.

Marc Marquez could only finish 10th on his Honda in practice. Picture: AFP

German MotoGP free practice combined times on Friday: 1. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 1:55.976, 2. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati Pramac) at 0.123, 3. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Ducati) 0.168, 4. Hafizh Syahrin (MAL/Yamaha Tech 3) 0.224, 5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 0.242, 6. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 0.416, 7. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 0.504, 8. Tito Rabat (ESP/Ducati) 0.545, 9. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha Tech3) 0.559, 10. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.659