Jorge Lorenzo is out of this weekend’s Dutch TT at Assen after suffering a broken collarbone in Thursday practice. The world champion crashed at high speed in torrential rain during the second practice session and the injuries have ended his participation in the Grand Prix.
Lorenzo had topped the timesheets in the morning session, run in more favourable conditions, but the heavens opened in the closing minutes of Moto3 FP2, leaving the circuit soaked for the premier class. Jorge came unstuck at Hoge Heide after seeming to clip the white line and being thrown over the Yamaha, landing hard on his left shoulder. Initially he was treated in the ambulance at the scene but once he returned to the medical centre, the true extent of his injuries was revealed.
Jorge, who currently trails championship leader Dani Pedrosa by seven points, will be kept in hospital overnight before returning home to Barcelona for surgery. It is hoped that he will be fit to return at the Sachsenring for the German Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.
With Lorenzo out of the picture, Cal Crutchlow is the fastest man after today’s practice sessions after sneaking ahead of Marc Marquez with his final lap of the morning. Valentino Rossi moves up to third on what will now be the sole factory Yamaha with Pedrosa fourth ahead of Aleix Espargaro who continues to impress at the front of the CRT pack. The Aspar rider was another to fall in the wet second session but he escaped injury.
With one final practice session to come on Friday morning, the remaining top ten spots are held by Stefan Bradl, Alvaro Bautista, Michele Pirro, Bradley Smith and Andrea Dovizioso with Nicky Hayden and Andrea Iannone the men nervously watching the weather forecasts as they look to claim an automatic passage to Q2.
Should it rain tomorrow, it may present an opportunity for more CRT runners to upset the Ducatis in Q1 with the Paul Bird duo Yonny Hernandez and Michael Laverty impressing. Claudio Corti also shone, going fastest at one point, before eventually slipping to eleventh in a session led by Marquez.
 Iveco TT Assen – Combined Practice Classification (Top Ten Automatically Qualify For Q2) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Best Time |
| 1 |  Cal Crutchlow |
Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:35.613 |
| 2 |  Marc Marquez |
Honda | Repsol Honda Team | 1:35.883 |
| 3 |  Valentino Rossi |
Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing | 1:35.958 |
| 4 | Dani Pedrosa |
Honda | Repsol Honda Team | 1:36.034 |
| 5 | Aleix Espargaro |
ART | Power Electronics Aspar | 1:36.430 |
| 6 |  Stefan Bradl |
Honda | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1:36.559 |
| 7 | Alvaro Bautista |
Honda | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1:36.763 |
| 8 | Michele Pirro |
Ducati | Ignite Pramac Racing | 1:36.910 |
| 9 | Bradley Smith |
Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:37.002 |
| 10 | Andrea Dovizioso |
Ducati | Ducati Team | 1:37.041 |
| 11 |  Nicky Hayden |
Ducati | Ducati Team | 1:37.153 |
| 12 |  Karel Abraham |
ART | Cardion AB Motoracing | 1:37.346 |
| 13 | Hector Barbera |
FTR | Avintia Blusens | 1:37.456 |
| 14 |  Randy de Puniet |
ART | Power Electronics Aspar | 1:37.489 |
| 15 | Andrea Iannone |
Ducati | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing | 1:37.538 |
| 16 | Danilo Petrucci |
Ioda Suter | Came IodaRacing Project | 1:37.654 |
| 17 |  Yonny Hernandez |
ART | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1:37.917 |
| 18 | Colin Edwards |
FTR Kawasaki | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:38.147 |
| 19 | Claudio Corti |
FTR Kawasaki | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:38.334 |
| 20 | Michael Laverty |
PBM | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1:38.874 |
| 21 |  Bryan Staring |
FTR Honda | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1:39.708 |
| 22 | Ivan Silva |
FTR | Avintia Blusens | 1:39.950 |
| 23 | Lukas Pesek |
FTR | Came Ioda Racing Project | 1:41.692 |
| Withdrawn (Injured) | ||||
| Jorge Lorenzo |
Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing | 1:35.263 | |
