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MotoGP, Pedrosa on the attack, 1st ahead of Petrucci, Rossi 7th

FP2: Bautista third and then Syahrin, Dovizioso and Viñales, Zarco 9th, Márquez 10th, but without using the soft tyre, Lorenzo 15th

MotoGP: Pedrosa on the attack, 1st ahead of Petrucci, Rossi 7th

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The second free practice session in Brno brought out the qualities of Dani Pedrosa. Fresh from a complicated first half of the season, the Spaniard shone in the afternoon, exploiting the soft tyre to set the bar for the session. It could not have gone any better for Dani, the only rider able to break the 1’56 barrier, stopping the clock at 1’55”976. The opposite was true of Marc Márquez, who preferred using the hard tyre for the entire session, thus explaining his tenth place at a gap of more than six tenths behind the leader (+0.659).

The six-time world champion did not need to chase the time, proving to be competitive already in terms of race pace. Going back to the top spots, the first of the followers was Danilo Petrucci (+0.123), just over a tenth of a second behind the leader. For the occasion, the Pramac Ducati rider flaunted new aerodynamics which, in some ways, are reminiscent of the front end of a Formula 1 single-seater. Tomorrow, the factory riders Dovizioso and Lorenzo will also use it.

In the afternoon, the Italian lagged two tenths behind (+0.242), having to settle for fifth place. The Majorcan was way back in fifteenth, more than one second behind the time his Honda riding compatriot did (+1.299). Speaking of Ducati, Alvaro Bautista's third place time stands out (0.168), followed by a surprising Syahrin (+0.224). Hats off to the team Tech3 rider, the fastest astride a Yamaha in FP2, since Viñales was unable to do better than fourth place (+0.416), followed closely by Valentino Rossi (+0.504). The Doctor did some comparative tests in the afternoon, losing half a second gap.

Johann Zarco was only ninth after being the best in the morning, finishing behind Rabat, whereas Andrea Iannone missed the top ten by just 17 thousandths. As for the Aprilia riders, Aleix Espargaró did not make it past 16th place, followed by the KTM ridden by his brother Pol, while Scott Redding was 23rd. It was an uphill battle for Franco Morbidelli as well, nineteenth and a second and a half behind.     

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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