Aleix Espargaro tops Friday practice in Barcelona

Team Suzuki Ecstar's Aleix Espargaro delighted his home fans at the Catalan GP by ending the day on top of the combined timesheets.

It was thrilling first day of MotoGP Free Practice at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya in Barcelona that ended with Aleix Espargaro sending the fans home happy after he ended the day on top of the timesheets.

Conditions improved throughout the day with track temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius by FP2, which led to most riders improving their times in the afternoon practice session. The weather forecast for Saturday is mixed, therefore an extra emphasis was placed on Friday's practice sessions, as if it rains tomorrow, today's times could decide who makes it through automatically to Q2.

It was frantic last few minutes of FP2 as riders whacked on new slicks and headed out on track to put in one last flying lap. Espargaro left it until late to put in a 1’42.183, just 0.3s off Andrea Dovizioso’s 2014 lap record. The Catalan rider clearly benefitting from the engine upgrades to his GSX-RR machine.

The Repsol Honda’s of Marc Marquez (+0.285s) was the only man to get within half a second of the leading Suzuki as he debuted a new exhaust on his RC213V. His teammate Dani Pedrosa (+0.0631s) was in third ahead of Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.665s) who, along with his teammate Iannone, was sporting modified winglets on his GP15 to cope with the higher curbs at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Team Suzuki Ecstar enjoyed a day to remember as Maverick ViÃ±ales (+0.764s) also showed good pace on the second GSX-RR to finish in fifth.

Andrea Iannone (+0780s) improved from eleventh in FP1 to end the day in sixth overall, with the big surprise being Jorge Lorenzo finding himself down in seventh on the Movistar Yamaha M1. Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda), Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completed the top ten, despite Redding crashing heavily at turn 10 during the afternoon.

Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi ended the day down in 11th, while Nicky Hayden was in 13th, just ahead of Bradley Smith (14th). Irishman Eugene Laverty set the 19th fastest time of the day, with Aussie Jack Miller in 20th, 2.211s behind Espargaro.

Results

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time
1	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	1'41.158
2	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1'41.443
3	PEDROSA Dani	26	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1'41.789
4	DOVIZIOSO Andrea	4	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1'41.823
5	VINALES Maverick	25	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	1'41.922
6	IANNONE Andrea	29	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1'41.938
7	LORENZO Jorge	99	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1'42.034
8	CRUTCHLOW Cal	35	GBR	CWM LCR Honda	Honda	1'42.044
9	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1'42.313
10	REDDING Scott	45	GBR	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1'42.354
11	ROSSI Valentino	46	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1'42.367
12	HERNANDEZ Yonny	68	COL	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1'42.417
13	HAYDEN Nicky	69	USA	Aspar MotoGP Team	Honda	1'42.623
14	SMITH Bradley	38	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1'42.645
15	BARBERA Hector	8	SPA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	1'42.697
16	BAZ Loris	76	FRA	Athina Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	1'42.968
17	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1'42.995
18	ABRAHAM Karel	17	CZE	AB Motoracing	Honda	1'43.008
19	LAVERTY Eugene	50	IRE	Aspar MotoGP Team	Honda	1'43.351
20	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	CWM LCR Honda	Honda	1'43.369
21	BAUTISTA Alvaro	19	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1'43.463
22	BRADL Stefan	6	GER	Athina Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	1'43.536
23	DI MEGLIO Mike	63	FRA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	1'43.760
24	DE ANGELIS Alex	15	RSM	Athina Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	1'44.614
25	MELANDRI Marco	33	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1'45.270