Crutchlow rules day one at Jerez

Cal Crutchlow put his LCR Honda on top of the Friday practice timesheets for the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.

The Englishman, winner of round two in Argentina, improved from eighth in the morning session to head what looked like being a Honda-dominated FP2…until world champion Marc Marquez fell in the closing stages.

Unlike most, Marquez didn’t feel the need to fit new tyres for a time attack and had continued on old (medium) rubber when he lost the front of his RC213V as he tipped into Turn 6, under braking, at the end of the back straight.

The Spaniard was unharmed, if frustrated, and later pushed down to fifth place after leading until the final five minutes when Crutchlow and Johann Zarco began exchanging the top spot on new soft rear tyres.

Zarco would finish the session in third for Monster Yamaha Tech3, just 0.091s from Crutchlow, with fourth place Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) also within one-tenth of the top.

Morning leader Andrea Dovizioso was shuffled back to fifth in the afternoon, Ducati's world championship slotting in just ahead of team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who - like Pedrosa - recovered from a poor position in FP1, on his 31st birthday.

Jack Miller repeated his top ten place for Pramac Ducati with eighth (+0.488s), with Valentino Rossi the leading Yamaha rider in ninth. The Italian spent much of the session on the hard front-medium rear, then switched to new medium-soft rubber for his time attack.

But while Rossi is provisionally holding direct access to Qualifying 2, team-mate Maverick Vinales was left in an overnight twelfth place on combined times. The Spaniard was tenth in FP2, but lost out to the best times by Pol Espargaro (KTM) and Danilo Petrucci (Danilo Petrucci) in FP1.

Yamaha is the only factory team not to have held a private winter test at Jerez, which has been resurfaced since last year's race, where Rossi and Vinales struggled.

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