MORBIDELLI ON TOP IN BARCELONA

Franco Morbidelli on top in Barcelona – Photo: LAT

In form Petronas Yamaha MotoGP rider Franco Morbidelli ended Friday practice on top of the timesheets in Barcelona.

By DAN McCARTHY

The Italian was fastest in practice 2 setting a 1m 41.219s lap time, just over a tenth faster than Frenchman Johann Zarco.

Both riders crashed out early in the second practice session but recovered to end the day at the head of the field.

Almost all riders set their fastest time in the final five minutes of Friday practice and led to a frenetic end to proceedings.

Morbidelli ended up on top by 0.109s from Avintia Ducati rider Zarco, with KTM rider Brad Binder in third only 0.110s further back.

After taking the win at the Misano World Circuit last weekend, Maverick Vinales was high on confidence and set the fourth fastest time ahead of the highest Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami.

Fabio Quartararo on his #20 Petronas Yamaha bike ended practice 1 in first position but was unable to improve in practice 2.

The Frenchman suffered a technical issue right at the end of practice 2 and as a result was unable to set a competitive time before the session ran out. Nevertheless, Quartararo ended the day comfortably inside the top 10 in fifth position.

After tumbling in practice 1 Joan Mir was fastest for a period in FP2, but by the time the session ended the Spaniard was seventh fastest, 0.652s off Morbidelli’s time.

Pol Espargaro, Alex Marquez and Valentino Rossi all ended the day inside the top 10, unlike several championship contenders.

Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso like Quartararo did not improve in the second session and ended the day down in 15th position, he was however ahead of his teammate Danillo Petrucci who rounded out the bottom of the timesheets.

The Pramac Ducati’s also struggled, Australian Jack Miller was 12th fastest while ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia concluded his running in 20th position.

The other notable absentee was Alex Rins who ended up in 11th, just 0.036s from Rossi.

Qualifying begins tonight just after 10.00pm AEST.

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