Australian MotoGP: Jack Miller, Jorge Lorenzo top Friday practice sessions at Phillip Island
JACK Miller landed the first blow in the Moto3 world title fight, topping Friday practice. Full results from Moto3 and MotoGP.
JACK Miller has landed the first blow in the Australian round of the Moto3 world title fight, topping Friday’s second practice session at Phillip Island.
Miller clocked a 1m37.033s lap to head Efren Vazquez and Juanfran Guevara, while title rival Alex Marquez could do no better than 10th fastest.
With track temperatures touching 39 degrees, the bikes weren’t able to match the fastest time set in the cooler first practice session on Friday morning, where British rider Danny Kent set the pace with a 1m36.906s lap.
However, Miller’s time stands up as the second-fastest of the day overall, boding well as the Townsville-born rider aims to close his 25-point deficit to Marquez.
“We can be really happy with the work done today. It has been a very productive day,” Miller said.
“We changed different things with our KTM and I think we are going in the right direction. In the afternoon, when it was windier and we were using new tyres, we were able to go faster and set a good time.
“We are where we should be, but we still have to work hard to be ready for the race. Improvements can still be made with myself and the bike.”
Remy Gardner slashed almost six tenths of a second off his morning time to end the second session in 23rd place, an impressive outing his debut at the circuit where his father Wayne won the inaugural 500cc world championship grand prix 25 years ago.
Fellow Australian wildcard Olly Simpson bounced back from a crash early in the morning session to set the 28th-fastest time of the second session, ahead of several of the championship regulars.
TOP 10 RESULTS — Combined Moto3 Friday Practice times
1. (52) Danny Kent (Husqvarna) 1m36.906s
2. (8) Jack Miller (KTM) +0.127s
3. (7) Efren Vazquez (Honda) +0.159s
4. (58) Juanfran Guevara (Kalex KTM) +0.171s
5. (41) Brad Binder (Mahindra) +0.180s
6. (12) Alex Marquez (Honda) +0.236s
7. (84) Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) +0.307s
8. (31) Niklas Ajo (Husqvarna) +0.334s
9. (42) Alex Rins (Honda) +0.352s
10. (32) Isaac Vinales (KTM) +0.490s
25. (2) Remy Gardner (KTM) +1.435s
32. (45) Olly Simpson (KTM) +2.150s
MOTOGP
JORGE Lorenzo headed the MotoGP running on Friday at Phillip Island, despite a crash midway through the second session.
Lorenzo set his fastest lap on his opening run in the session, before becoming one of many victims to lose the front end and crash under heavy braking for the Honda hairpin.
The Spanish Yamaha rider was the only person to undercut Aleix Espargaro’s opening session time, despite most riders going faster than they had in the cooler mid-morning session.
Newly-crowned world champion Marc Marquez ended the day third overall ahead of Ducati twins Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso.
Both men were on the list of crashers, going down in identical spills under brakes for MG corner. Dovizioso was the first rider to go down in the session, heading out on a second bike and clocking a lap good enough to round out the top five as the chequered flag flew to close play.
Valentino Rossi was next quickest from a resurgent Cal Crutchlow, the soon to be ex-Ducati rider getting to within 0.15s off teammate Dovizioso in one of his stronger Friday performances.
Pol Espargaro was next quickest overall, despite crashing in the same spot as Lorenzo, ahead of Yonny Hernandez on the second Pramac Ducati.
Rounding out the top 10 overall, and not in a position he is accustomed to, was Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa.
The Spaniard only just got within 0.7 seconds of Lorenzo, one of the riders he is fighting for second place in the world championship, on a day where it was revealed that he will have a new crew chief for the 2015 season.
TOP 10 RESULTS - Combined MotoGP Friday Practice times
1. (99) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1m29.602s
2. (41) Aleix Espargaro (Forward Yamaha) +0.147s
3. (93) Marc Marquez (Honda) +0.150s
4. (29) Andrea Iannone (Ducati) +0.201s
5. (4) Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) +0.343s
6. (46) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.352s
7. (35) Cal Crutchlow (Ducati) +0.474s
8. (44) Pol Espargaro (Honda) +0.501s
9. (68) Yonny Hernandez (Ducati) +0.679s
10. (26) Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.687s
22. (23) Broc Parkes (PBM) +0.590s
MOTO2
Esteve Rabat showed he is serious about trying to wrap up the Moto2 world championship on Australian soil, trouncing his rivals in Friday practice.
His closest rival barely got to within six tenths of a second of the Spanish rider, who will seal his first world title if he can finish fourth or better on Sunday.
Sandro Cortese was second quickest from Motegi winner Thomas Luthi, all three improving their times in the generally faster second session.
Fourth fastest overall on the day was Jordi Torres, who was blindingly fast in this morning’s session before joining the long list of riders to crash. Almost one third of the field endured a high-speed meeting with the tarmac.
Torres was back in action for the afternoon session but was unable to improve his morning time.
Fifth overall was Rabat’s Marc VDS teammate Mika Kallio, the only man with a realistic chance of stealing the title out of ‘Tito’s grasp and another to crash in the morning, executing a perfect front-flip over and onto the tyre barriers after running wide at Lukey Heights.
Australian rider Anthony West was the big mover in the afternoon session, slashing almost six tenths off his morning best to rise from 22nd to 15th overall for the day, and 13th quickest in the second session alone.
His countrymen weren’t quite as fortunate. After impressing in the morning session, Aiden Wagner failed to improve in the afternoon to end the day 29th overall, while Max Croker sat at the foot of the timesheets in both sessions, over seven seconds off the pace and will need to improve on Saturday to set a time fast enough to qualify for Sunday’s race.
TOP 10 RESULTS - Combined Moto2 Friday Practice times
1. (53) Esteve Rabat (Kalex) 1m33.057s
2. (11) Sandro Cortese (Kalex) +0.598s
3. (12) Thomas Luthi (Suter) +0.624s
4. (81) Jordi Torres (Suter) +0.639s
5. (36) Mika Kallio (Kalex) +0.702s
6. (40) Maverick Vinales (Kalex) +0.763s
7. (60) Julian Simon (Kalex) +0.860s
8. (94) Jonas Folger (Kalex) +0.910s
9. (54) Mattia Pasini (Kalex) +1.020s
10. (22) Sam Lowes (Speed Up) +1.024s
15. (95) Anthony West (Speed Up) +1.187s
29. (41) Aiden Wagner (Kalex) +2.153s
35. (42) Max Croker (Suter) +7.342s*
* Time outside 107% of the fastest lap
Originally published as Australian MotoGP: Jack Miller, Jorge Lorenzo top Friday practice sessions at Phillip Island
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