Karel Abraham set the fastest time on Friday ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix but constantly changing weather rendered the day a virtual write-off. Only 13 of the 21 riders set a time all day with championship rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa never even leaving their garages.
The circuit was mainly left to the CRT runners in the morning with Ben Spies and the returning Nicky Hayden taking their prototype machines for a handful of laps. By the end of the morning, Danilo Petrucci was the fastest man and it was no great surprise to see the Ioda team among the busiest as they put miles on their new Suter chassis. Petrucci led by a couple of tenths from Michele Pirro with most of the teams saving their bikes for what they hoped would be a dry second session.
Unfortunately, their prayers wouldn’t be answered as only a faint dry line emerged for the start of FP2. That didn’t stop Jonathan Rea from going out though as the Repsol Honda debutant aimed to clock up as many laps as possible. On his second flying lap, the Ulsterman actually went quickest of all but was later demoted to fifth by Abraham, James Ellison, Michele Pirro and Yonny Hernandez.
The times were starting to tumble as conditions improved but before the big hitters got chance to turn a wheel, the rain returned. As a result the top six was set for the day with Danilo Petrucci’s morning time enough to secure second overall behind Abraham.
The two debutants, Rea and David Salom, were sixth and seventh respectively while Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden followed just behind. Randy de Puniet completed the top ten ahead with Mattia Pasini, Alvaro Bautista and Colin Edwards the only others to set a time.
