Jorge Lorenzo completed his domination of the Friday practice sessions with another strong display in second practice at Phillip Island. The world champion finished half a second ahead of the rest this afternoon but the other headline of FP2 was the difficulties encountered by his Honda rivals.
Lorenzo was straight on his FP1 pace at the start of the second session but on his second timed lap, Marc Marquez lost control of his RC213V at Lukey Heights with the back end stepping out. Marquez was eventually thrown to the floor on his left hand side and given the collarbone injury sustained at Silverstone, the Repsol Honda squad will have been relieved to see their rider return unscathed.
The problems didn’t end there as Dani Pedrosa pulled over late in the session with an apparent technical problem. Replays and further inspection by the team discovered that the engine mounting bolt hadn’t been locked properly and subsequently came loose. The problem was easily fixable but it ended Dani’s session early.
As a result, he wouldn’t finish as the leading Honda with Alvaro Bautista taking the honours for GO&FUN Gresini. Lorenzo was busy setting a 1:28.961 while the factory Hondas were having problems and ended the day half a second ahead of Bautista and Pedrosa. Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow climbed ahead of Marquez but the championship leader will sit second overnight by virtue of his FP1 time.
Bradley Smith improved to a 1:30.165 to finish seventh with Randy de Puniet continuing to punch above his wright in eighth, leading the factory Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso by four tenths of a second. The Pramac duo Andrea Iannone and Yonny Hernandez will be under pressure to improve in FP3, both sitting outside of the top ten, while Aleix Espargaro is also a little lower than normal in thirteenth.
Despite taking part in FP1, Stefan Bradl has withdrawn from the weekend with his injuries from Malaysia proving too tough to overcome.
 TISSOT AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX – FRIDAY PRACTICE CLASSIFICATION |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOP 10 RIDERS AFTER FP3 AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFY FOR QUALIFYING 2 | ||||
| POS | RIDER | CONSTRUCTOR | TEAM | BEST TIME |
| 1 |  JORGE LORENZO |
YAMAHA | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING | 1:28.961 |
| 2 | MARC MARQUEZ |
HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 1:29.255 |
| 3 | ALVARO BAUTISTA |
HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 1:29.438 |
| 4 | DANI PEDROSA |
HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 1:29.478 |
| 5 |  VALENTINO ROSSI |
YAMAHA | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING | 1:29.537 |
| 6 |  CAL CRUTCHLOW |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 1:29.667 |
| 7 | BRADLEY SMITH |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 1:30.165 |
| 8 |  RANDY DE PUNIET |
ART | POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR | 1:30.215 |
| 9 |  NICKY HAYDEN |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 1:30.609 |
| 10 | ANDREA DOVIZIOSO |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 1:30.754 |
| 11 | ANDREA IANNONE |
DUCATI | ENERGY T.I. PRAMAC RACING | 1:30.792 |
| 12 | COLIN EDWARDS |
FTR KAWASAKI | NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING | 1:30.917 |
| 13 | ALEIX ESPARGARO |
ART | POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR | 1:31.091 |
| 14 |  YONNY HERNANDEZ |
DUCATI | IGNITE PRAMAC RACING TEAM | 1:31.134 |
| 15 | HECTOR BARBERA |
FTR | AVINTIA BLUSENS | 1:31.286 |
| 16 |  HIROSHI AOYAMA |
FTR | AVINTIA BLUSENS | 1:31.434 |
| 17 | CLAUDIO CORTI |
FTR KAWASAKI | NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING | 1:31.451 |
| 18 | DANILO PETRUCCI |
IODA-SUTER | CAME IODARACING PROJECT | 1:31.803 |
| 19 | MICHAEL LAVERTY |
ART | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | 1:32.066 |
| 20 | LUCA SCASSA |
ART | CARDION AB MOTORACING | 1:32.261 |
| 21 | BRYAN STARING |
FTR HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 1:32.290 |
| 22 |  LUKAS PESEK |
IODA-SUTER | CAME IODARACING PROJECT | 1:32.943 |
| 23 |  STEFAN BRADL |
HONDA | LCR HONDA MOTOGP | 1:33.165 |
| 24 | DAMIAN CUDLIN |
PBM | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | 1:34.969 |
