Lorenzo tops Free Practice 2. Rossi 6th, Marquez 9th.
Vinales 2nd, and LCR Honda and Pramac Ducati beat their factory counterparts.
Yamaha said engine failures were due to spec ECU not preventing over revs when rear leaves ground - should be fixed for Spain.
Edit: Deepest sympathies to the friends and family of Moto2 rider Luis Salom who passed away after an fall in FP2.
They family of Luis Salom wanted the event to continue. A new track layout and revised schedule has been established for this weekend's races.
Qualifying results
1 MARQUEZ 1'43.589
2 LORENZO 0.467
3 PEDROSA 0.718
4 BARBERA 0.733
5 ROSSI 0.735
6 VIÑALES 0.740
7 CRUTCHLOW 0.777
8 IANNONE 0.869
9 PETRUCCI 1.322
10 DOVIZIOSO 1.440
Crikey! What an extraordinary race. Much as I dislike Valentino Rossi, that was an extraordinary performance and he deserved the win. Marquez seemed to me to be working very hard indeed to hang on. I was slightly surprised he got past Rossi and sorry he couldn't hang on to the lead. Kudos to Rossi.
Wonder what went wrong for Lorenzo before Ianonne took him out?
beat me to it on the spoiler alert Cormanus, good job and I agree with your assessment.
methinks Iannone is looking at some penalty points or action at the next race. Second time in 6 races he has T boned somebody.
It looked to me that the Honda of Marquez was not really handling that well and he was only able to stay with Rossi by shear talent. After Rossi re-passed him in the closing laps, Marquez decided it seems to settle for 2nd and the points rather than risk a DNF. Love him or hate him, Rossi was brilliant.
Iannone needs a trip to the woodshed. It's fortunate he's not yet caused someone or himself serious injury. In the garage he appeared to be on the receiving end of a proper dressing down after the altercation with Ducati's No1 for 2017.
^^^ Yeah, I thought Marquez looked decidedly uncomfortable coming into the corners. The rear end seemed to want to kick out under heavy braking and, as you say, redbirds, it was sheer talent that kept him up there. Rossi's bike looked to me to be much better planted on the track.
In a brief post race interview, Marquez said that his mindset changed when he saw Lorenzo was out of the race. The commentator observed that he must be growing up!
Yes, Marquez is indeed growing wiser. Iannone and to some extent Vinales were the bad boys in this race.
I would have loved to have been a fly in Lorenzo's helmet after he was taken out.
Watching it again right now on 620