This morning, as soon as the session opened at 10 a.m., 18 riders took to the track (at 36°) for this unique day of MotoGP testing in Brno.
They had at their disposal a new Michelin front tire based on the profile tested in Barcelona and on which You can find more information here.
Like he usually does, Valentino Rossi was not expected before the end of the morning, while conversely, the absence of Maverick Vinales was noticed, even if the Yamaha rider had warned yesterday of this possibility, suffering from arm pain after his fall at the start of the Grand Prix: “it will depend on how I will be when I wake up tomorrow, after the fall. We will see ".
After having run brilliantly yesterday during the coursex, Jorge Lorenzo immediately established the provisional reference during his second flying lap, achieving 1'55.609 while we were running in 1'56 on the other bikes.
Valentino Rossi made his appearance shortly before 11 a.m. with his winter testing helmet, just as Jack Miller temporarily packed up after completing only 13 laps. The Australian rider experienced a technical problem on his second bike and did not want to add kilometers to the engine mounted on his number one bike.
.@ValeYellow46 al lavoro in Brno 🏍
For the doctor to prove comparatively and electronically ✅
This is also a new care 🔜#SkyMotori #MotoGP
???? @antonioboselli pic.twitter.com/kSRiFIigWv- Sky Sport MotoGP (@SkySportMotoGP) August 6
Behind Jorge Lorenzo, Danilo Petrucci progressed lap after lap until approaching within 1 tenth of the Mallorcan driver's best time, and the two men were jointly leading the classification when, at midday, Cal Crutchlow managed to insert his Honda between the 2 “factory” Ducatis.
The Honda rider is still complaining about not having the carbon swingarm at his disposal, while that was the case for Stefan Bradl this weekend.
At Honda, today we run Hiroshi Aoyama on Stefan Bradl’s bike…
At KTM, after the injuries of Mika Kallio et Espargaro Pol, there is obviously only Bradley Smith on track. The situation is not easy for the oranges, on the eve of their home Grand Prix, especially since Espargaro Pol will not be replaced at the Red Bull Ring…
At 12:25 p.m., Andrea Dovizioso took charge of operations in 1'55.517.
Half an hour later, Johann zarco achieved the third time, 0,169 seconds behind the winner of the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic. In the process, he improved further, in 1'55.576, to compare with his qualification in 1'55.221, and took second provisional position.
A little before 16:00 p.m., on a track then at 48°, Marc Marquez took command. The Honda rider had two additional motorcycles, in addition to his usual machines. One has an unpainted carbon saddle-tank assembly, the other is not painted at all, like Hiroshi Aoyama's...
Half an hour later, it was the turn of Dani Pedrosa to take the torch, in 1'55.399.
10 minutes before the end of the session, we thought things had been achieved but that was without counting on the bitumen devourers that are Marc Marquez et Johann zarco !
The first finally won in 1'55.209 with 77 laps on the clock (the distance of almost 4 Grands Prix!), 133 thousandths ahead of the Tech3 driver who completed 71 laps.
Valentino Rossi tried a new aerodynamic solution at the very end of the day and, for the anecdote, finished it 7 minutes after the official end, by completing 3 additional laps while the lights were red: motivation, when you hold us...
The drivers will now head to the Red Bull Ring as the first reports regarding the new Michelin front tire are not really great...
MotoGP test standings in Brno:
