MotoGP Aragon, Free Practice 2: Marquez responds to Lorenzo
Three Hondas ahead of the Mallorcan's Yamaha, Rossi in difficulty
Marc Marquez set the best time in the second free practice session of the MotoGP class in Aragon, scene of the fourteenth stage of the 2013 world championship. The world championship leader stopped the clock at a time of 1:48.987, thus responding to Jorge Lorenzo this morning first and "only" fourth this afternoon, 418 thousandths behind.
The two Hondas of Stefan Bradl (returned to the top positions after a "dull" period) and Dani Pedrosa, riding the Team Repsol RC213V, did better than the Majorcan, trailing by 132 and 267 thousandths respectively.
The reigning champion precedes his compatriot Alvaro Bautista, who fell at turn 8 without suffering any physical consequences. The #19 of Team Gresini lost the front end of his Honda RC213V with Showa suspension (the only bike from the golden wing manufacturer to use them), he then tried to get back on the saddle but the bike no longer started.
Behind him the Yamaha SAT of Cal Crutchlow's Team Tech 3 and Valentino Rossi's Factory, only seventh, almost a second from the top. A fairly heavy gap, especially considering the positive tests carried out here and in Misano.
Closely behind him (0.125) is Andrea Dovizioso, riding the Ducati and celebrating his 200th overall GP in the world championship here. Well Aleix Espargarò, best CRT as usual. The Spaniard, who yesterday did not deny his possible move to Team Forward, is ahead of the Ducatis of Hayden and Iannone and the FTR Kawasaki of Hector Barberà.
The Italians with the CRTs are Claudio Corti fifteenth and Danilo Petrucci eighteenth. Luca Scassa, here riding the injured Karel Abraham's ART, is in twenty-first position and ahead of Bryan Staring, Lukas Pesek and Damian Cudlin.
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MotoGP Free Practice 2 Motegi - Japanese GP - Times
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Motegi - Japanese GP - Free Practice 2 results
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Bradl a flash in the pan, he did the time with new tyres...
I'm not sure because I didn't see it, but Marquez also set the time straight away in the first laps, and then he didn't get much closer, so perhaps he too had the new soft rear, like many others who set the time.
It would seem that the Hondas are performing better on the pace than the Yamahas for now, they go below 1.50 with much more ease and consistency on the pace.
I do not agree.
Bradl set the time at the end, like the Ducatis, but the others also used soft, new tyres. The difference (which has no effect) is that Bradl may have used 2 sets of new tyres, but this (provided he didn't use tires already used at the start of the 2nd session), was only done to make himself safe and be sure to get into Q2, in case problems arise tomorrow.
However, Bradl had already set a better time than Valentino's final time on his first outing, so calling him a "flash in the pan" seems risky to me at the very least.
If you like, look at the split times. I didn't include Bradl as a "flash in the pan", but I hope you'll forgive me.
Split times:
1) Tue (T1 1st) 31.194 (T2 3rd) 30.955 (T3 1st) 21.124 (T4 3rd) 25.673
3) Ped (T1 4th) 31.340 (T2 2nd) 30.937 (T3 3rd) 21.202 (T4 2nd) 25.626
4) Lor (T1 2nd) 31.224 (T2 1st) 30.882 (T3 4th) 21.236 (T4 5th) 25.738
7) Val (T1 7th) 31.551 (T2 9th) 31.139 (T3 5th) 21.258 (T4 4th) 25.725
8) Dov (T1 8th) 31.560 (T2 7th) 31.118 (T3 9th) 21.380 (T4 9th) 25.976
I do not agree.
Bradl set the time like all the other riders, with new tyres.
Probably, to be on the safe side, he used 2 tyres, as I think they also did in Ducati, but I'm of the opinion that he only did it to avoid having problems getting into Q2.
Bradl, already on his first outing, set a better time than Valentino.
In the race he already showed that he was able to get to the end with an excellent pace and giving him a "flash in the pan" just because he wanted to be more calm for entering Q2 doesn't seem like the right feeling to me.
…we know that Ronnie is Valentino…
Damn, I came up with a similar post.
My fault.
The second is slightly modified in terms, not in the concept expressed.
Bradl, like the Ducati riders, set the time in the last outing because he tried the Hard tires first.
With the soft tires you risk not finishing the race and the hard ones are a second slower.
All drivers used just one set of new soft tires to set the time.
Bradl is on par with everyone else and if he finished second half it is with full merit.
Maybe they will use the soft tires in the race anyway. Rossi said that the hard tires are the extra hard ones and that they wouldn't seem like a good solution for the race and it seems that other riders think so too.
In the end, if you lose a lot in pace, the decline in the soft tires is compensated by the better performance in the first laps, and in the end I think the extra hard tires also have a decline.
Aragon should have a very abrasive surface and fairly high temperatures, but in the end it is likely that they will use the soft tires once again.
I never make the distinction between extra-soft, soft, medium-hard etc., I only talk about soft and hard, then we know that there are more than 2 varieties, but I find it convenient, also because it makes more distinction, given that only 2 compounds are used , it doesn't matter much in my opinion, the tires are the same, call them what you want, but in the end they are soft and hard.
It depends on how much drop they have after the first few laps.
If they get to at least halfway through the race without excessive imbalances, then it's worth using the soft tires, but from what Lorenzo says, the drop is over half a second, after just a few laps.
I don't know how much it would be worth using the soft tires if what Lorenzo thinks holds true tomorrow too.
It will also depend on the possibility of being able to partially compensate for the wear and tear by better arranging the setting, including the temperature.
I believe that, unlike the last GPs, here the tire factor is still an unknown for many.
Espargaro has already said that he will use what for him are the mediums, but which are equally soft for the MotoGP.
It would be funny if the MotoGP bikes were forced to use the hard tires to finish the race.