MOTOGP: Lorenzo fastest again in FP2 with late lap

Jorge Lorenzo left it late to stamp his early authority on the third round of the MotoGP season at Jerez by topping Friday's second practice session.

The Yamaha rider topped the morning session and led the afternoon order early. His time of 1m40.005s was eclipsed by Marc Marquez 10 minutes in, and the Honda rider's 1m39.900s looked set to be enough entering the closing stages.

On his final run, Lorenzo improved to a 1m39.957s to half Marquez's advantage, before going faster again to 1m39.555s. He stayed 0.345 seconds clear of the field, with MotoGP championship leader Marquez finishing the day second on used tyres.

Suzuki tried fairing winglets on his challenger for the first time on Aleix Espargaro's bike, but the Spaniard did not have them on when he set the third-fastest time as the checkered flag flew.

Espargaro's effort was 0.538s down on Lorenzo and while the top three was spread out, one second essentially covered the next 10 riders, down to Cal Crutchlow in 13th.

Hector Barbera continued his strong start for Avintia Ducati with the fourth-fastest time, ahead of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales.

Andrea Dovizioso was the best of the factory Ducatis in seventh, with teammate Andrea Iannone struggling in 11th place, a further three tenths off the pace.

Like Suzuki, Aprilia ran with winglets for the first time – completing the set of MotoGP manufacturers to do so – with Stefan Bradl 15th fastest.

The only rider to fall during the session, doing so late at the final corner, Barbera's teammate Loris Baz wound up 17th.

PRACTICE TWO TIMES

Originally on Autosport.com