Jorge Lorenzo topped the timesheets on Friday afternoon as Ducati struck the first blow on a championship-deciding weekend at Valencia. The Spaniard edged out Dani Pedrosa with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso third fastest while series leader Marc Marquez ended his afternoon with an incredible 26th crash of the season.
After watching Andrea Iannone set the pace for Suzuki in FP1, the Hondas began to take control early in the afternoon session with Pedrosa, the most successful current rider around Valencia, clocking a 1:31.346 while conducting race preparation. Marquez would edge ahead at the half-hour mark, but the times would tumble in the latter stages when new soft tyres were fitted.
Lorenzo came alive with the new rubber and broke straight into the 1:30s, setting consecutive laps to ensure he would top the session overall with Pedrosa also making a late improvement, closing to within a tenth of a second. Dovizioso also used new softs to grab third despite a quiet session with Iannone finishing fourth overall by virtue of his morning time, the Italian another to crash late on.
With the factory Yamahas struggling yet again, Johann Zarco was the fastest YZR-M1 rider in fifth with Marquez slipping to sixth after his tumble at turn two. Jack Miller was seventh after setting identical times in each practice session while Cal Crutchlow, Michele Pirro and Pol Espargaro rounded out the top ten.
2017 Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana: Free Practice
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