MotoGP: Marquez ends Friday on top in Spain

Marc Marquez once again topped the timesheets after the second free practice session of MotoGP's season ending Valencian Grand Prix, pipping Andrea Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro to the fastest time.

Marquez was the first man to dominate the times in the 45-minute session but only after the 21-year-old had repeated his error from first practice, running very wide in the blustery conditions at Turn 1. The World Champion ended the session with a 1m31.454s.

Jorge Lorenzo temporarily put his Yamaha 0.053 seconds quicker than Marquez shortly after the halfway point but would end the session in fourth place, only 0.114s seconds behind Marquez, yet separated by Dovizioso and Espargaro.

Cal Crutchlow, who had briefly topped the session early on, was fifth fastest as the Briton improved by almost a whole second from his morning time. Dani Pedrosa and Stefan Bradl were sixth and seventh, with Pedrosa 0.441s slower than Honda teammate Marquez.

Pol Espargaro finished ahead of Bradley Smith and Valentino Rossi as they rounded out the top 10.

Suzuki's return to grand prix racing suffered a setback when Randy de Puniet, who ended second practice 18th, was forced to climb off his bike with plumes of smoke emitting from the engine with just five minutes of the session remaining.

Originally on Autosport.com