MOTOGP: Vinales fastest on revised Barcelona layout

Maverick Vinales topped his second practice session of the Catalan Grand Prix weekend for Suzuki, as MotoGP riders came to grips with Barcelona's Formula 1 layout.

The extended, 60-minute session was the first on the F1 configuration, adopted overnight following the death of Moto2 rider Luis Salom on Friday afternoon.

Friday's combined times were essentially wiped, with Saturday morning's session determining which 10 riders would advance directly to the second phase of qualifying. Naturally, times improved significantly during the hour, with Jorge Lorenzo setting the early pace with a time of 1m46.119s, before Marc Marquez improved to a 1m45.862s and then Dani Pedrosa with a 1m45.354s.

With 20 minutes to go, Honda riders filled the top three places, with Pedrosa 0.508 seconds clear of Marquez and Cal Crutchlow third. Marquez then crashed at Turn 2 just after leaving the pits, but rejoined the session on his spare Honda.

Vinales moved to the top for the first time with 12 minutes remaining with a 1m45.276s lap, before Marquez became the first rider to break the 1m45s barrier with a 1m44.847s effort with five minutes to go.

In the final flurry, Vinales reclaimed top spot with his 1m44.727s, finishing the session 0.120s clear of Marquez to go with his effort to top Friday morning's running.

Vinales' best time was three seconds slower than Lorenzo's benchmark in second practice on the old layout.

Pedrosa was third ahead of Valentino Rossi, who left it late to guarantee his place in the second phase of qualifying.

Rossi was 13th with three and a half minutes to go, and his first improvement was only good enough for 11th and his second 10th, the final place. However, with his last lap, Rossi leapt up to fourth, finishing 0.344s behind Vinales.

Pol Espargaro was fifth and the best satellite rider for Tech3 Yamaha, ahead of Lorenzo and Pramac Ducati pair Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci.

LCR Honda's Crutchlow wound up ninth, booking his place in Q2 along with factory Ducati rider Andrea Iannone.

Yonny Hernandez missed out on a place in Q2 by just 0.026s, with Iannone's team-mate Andrea Dovizioso facing the first phase of qualifying for the second time in as many races after setting the 12th-fastest time.

Bradley Smith finished at the foot of the order, 2.786s off Vinales' pace, having crashed at Turn 2 in the closing stages.

PRACTICE THREE TIMES:

Originally on Autosport.com