MotoGP 2015, Le Mans: Bradley Smith tops Friday practice, Jack Miller fastest Open bike, results

BRITAIN’S Bradley Smith upstaged MotoGP’s elite to top French Grand Prix practice as Jack Miller nipped at the heels of the factory-spec machines.

Britain's rider Bradley Smith competes on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 N°38 and clocked the best laps time of the second free practice session, on May 15, 2015 in Le Mans, western France, ahead of the MotoGP French Grand Prix on May 17. AFP PHOTO / JEAN FRANCOIS MONIER

BRADLEY Smith upstaged MotoGP’s top riders to set the fastest time in Friday practice for this weekend’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

Smith delighted his French-owned Tech 3 team by setting the pace in the afternoon session ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Cal Crutchlow and Marc Marquez, hailing a setup change found in the post-race test after the Spanish Grand Prix.

“We made considerable steps forward with the front forks and the electronic settings,” he said. “Moreover, we made consistent progress from the word go today and I must say that I feel much more comfortable here when compared to last year which was a tough weekend for me.”

RESULTS: CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS FROM FRIDAY PRACTICE

Lorenzo was only two tenths behind but displayed consistent pace that will make him a threat to become the first back-to-back winner of the 2015 season, while Dovizioso suggested Ducati will be in the thick of the fight after finding improvements during a two-day test at Mugello earlier in the week.

Watch all the MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 practice, qualifying and race action at the French Grand Prix LIVE in HD on FOX SPORTS Australia this weekend. Click HERE for times.

Crutchlow ended the day as the best of the Hondas in fourth, half a second off Smith’s pace and with just 0.034 of a second covering he, Marc Marquez in fifth and Valentino Rossi in sixth.

The day got off to a difficult start for the reigning world champion, his Repsol Honda breaking down as he started his first flying lap of the opening session.

Marquez parks his bike at pit exit after it cut out.

Both Marquez and Rossi said their bikes felt good, although the current world championship leader conceded simply “I’m not fast enough,” but expects to find improvements overnight.

Dani Pedrosa returned to action with the seventh fastest lap, the Spaniard admitting it took him a few laps to readjust to the raw speed of a MotoGP bike after spending the last two months on the sidelines recovering from surgery.

“Gradually we have made progress and by the afternoon things were going better, even if I still lacked a bit of pace,” he said. “Tonight I will try to relax as much as I can, in order to regain energy for tomorrow.”

The Espargaro brothers were next, Pol’s Tech 3 Yamaha ahead of Aleix’s Suzuki, while Yonny Hernandez again impressed by rounding out the top 10 on the Pramac Ducati.

The time put him ahead of factory rider Andrea Iannone, who managed only the 11th fastest time as he struggled with pain from the should he dislocated in a testing crash, ending the day almost a second off the pace, and a mere 0.018s ahead of Maverick Vinales in 12th.

Miller ended Friday in 13th place.

But arguably the biggest sensation sat in 13th place. Jack Miller recorded his best practice result since stepping up to MotoGP for the 2015 season at the track where he scored a barnstorming victory in Moto3 12 months ago.

After ending the opening session in 22nd, Miller’s afternoon effort placed him as the fastest of all the Open-class machines, barely a second slower than Smith’s fast lap, just over half a second down on teammate Crutchlow and, remarkably, ahead of Scott Redding on the Marc VDS team’s factory-spec Honda.

“I’m happy with today,” Miller said. “We’ve made some improvements and I’m getting more and more comfortable with the bike.

“I also feel more comfortable with the track, definitely more so than Jerez, so it has been a good start to the weekend. We need to keep improving but so far I am really happy!”

The MotoGP bikes will head back out track for two more practice sessions on Saturday ahead of the two-part qualifying session that will set the grid for Sunday’s race.

Originally published as MotoGP 2015, Le Mans: Bradley Smith tops Friday practice, Jack Miller fastest Open bike, results