Petrucci tops Marquez in Friday practice

Danilo Petrucci

Strong sun throughout Friday practice at the Spanish GP highlighted the new Jerez tarmac as the MotoGP teams made the most of every moment on the familiar track.

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) ended Day 1 at the Gran Premio Red Bull de EspaÃ±a at the top of the timesheets after setting a 1:37.909 in FP2, a time enough to edge out Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) by 0.012 as Ducati and Honda lock horns on Friday in Jerez.

Only challenged for the top spot in Free Practice 1 by his teammate, reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez continued his form into FP2. Remaining fast, Marquez ultimately ended Free Practice 2 in fourth with a 1’38.147 – less than a third of a second splitting the top four. Marquez’s morning time has him second on the combined times, 0.012s behind Danilo Petrucci and one of only two riders to set a 1’37.

Quotes

Danilo Petrucci, 1st 1'37.909

“It’s always nice to come back in Europe in Jerez, it’s a track I like a lot and today was a good day," reflected Petrucci, who spearheads a top five covered by less than two tenths which hosts two Ducatis and three Hondas. “In the end the lap time was good but I think we have some room for improvement," continued the Italian.

“Tomorrow morning the track will be cooler and maybe faster so today is not so important, but we understood something, especially on the tyre that might work for Sunday. And the most important thing is that we don’t change the setup a lot compared to Austin. For sure in Austin the race wasn’t good for me but I knew this and I also knew that this is a good track for me and for today I’m happy."

Marc Marquez, 2nd 1'37.921

“Basically today was a normal Friday, trying to be consistent and working mostly for the race and on our overall pace. I feel good from the beginning and we kept improving. I’m happy but of course we have to keep working, we’ve started well. The new tarmac has great grip. When we came here with the old tarmac there was one setup and now it’s another setup. We started with a good pace so are trying some things and we don’t have the same problems we had in Austin which is helping me to ride constant and exactly like I want. There are many riders who are quick so we have to be careful!"

Friday Practice Times (Combined)

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	Petrucci Danilo	9	ITA	Mission Winnow Ducati	Ducati	1'37.909
2	Marquez Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.012
3	Dovizioso Andrea	4	ITA	Mission Winnow Ducati	Ducati	0.097
4	Lorenzo Jorge	99	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.136
5	Crutchlow Cal	35	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	0.195
6	Vinales Maverick	12	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.203
7	Nakagami Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	Honda	0.225
8	Quartararo Fabio	20	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	0.300
9	Bradl Stefan	6	GER	HRC Test Team	Honda	0.464
10	Miller Jack	43	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.555
11	Morbidelli Franco	21	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	0.569
12	Rins Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.625
13	Bagnaia Francesco	63	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.684
14	Espargaro Pol	44	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.726
15	Iannone Andrea	29	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	0.767
16	Rossi Valentino	46	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.772
17	Espargaro Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	0.812
18	Mir Joan	36	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.880
19	Zarco Johann	5	FRA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.988
20	Rabat Tito	53	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1.201
21	Smith Bradley	38	GBR	Aprilia Racing Test Team	Aprilia	1.501
22	Abraham Karel	17	CZE	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1.623
23	Oliveira Miguel	88	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	1.865
24	Syahrin Hafizh	55	MAL	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	2.985