After two days of rain and dark gray skies, this morning’s MotoGP warm-up practice at Motorland Aragon was sunny and dry, with track and air temperatures warming up the Spanish track, and the 20 minutes were almost all dedicated in finding a dry set-up ahead of this afternoon’s race.
Pole man Jorge Lorenzo immediately set the benchmark with a best lap of 1’49″867 which he then lowered to 1’49″867 in his final flying lap, while Yamaha team mate Ben Spies was right behind him and adrift only by 0.
018s.
Dani Pedrosa slowly moved up the timesheets and grabbed the third spot in the dying seconds and interrupting what would have been a Yamaha 1-2-3-4 by demoting Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow to fourth and fifth.
Stefan Bradl was fifth and the last rider to be within a second of Lorenzo, while Nicky Hayden was the fastest Ducati rider, but his gap from the front runners was 1″287s.
Alvaro Bautista who should be re-confirmed with Gresini in 2013 was 7th, a big improvement after taking 12th in qualifying, while Valentino Rossi was just 9th and a little more than three tenths of second ahead of Aprilia CRT rider Randy de Puniet who closed out the top ten.
Luckless Hector Barbera had a big one off in the last seconds of the practice, he was lingering outside the racing line when the rear tire of his Ducati touched the wet grass sending him flying into the gravel trap.
Apparently the Spaniard was unhurt, but this new crash will just add to the amount of bruises he’s already carrying.
MotoGP Motorland Aragon Warm-up results:01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’49.
838 02- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
018 03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
251 04- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
414 05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
726 06- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.
793 07- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
287 08- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.
328 09- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
388 10- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1.
773 11- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 2.
108 12- Jonathan Rea – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 2.
186 13- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 2.
421 14- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.
429 15- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 2.
964 16- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 3.
264 17- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 3.
607 18- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 3.
632 19- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP12 – + 4.
697 20- David Salom – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 4.
976 21- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 6.
662