Cal Crutchlow set the Friday practice pace at Jerez after a late crash for reigning champion Marc Marquez. The Spaniard had led for much of the afternoon before a tumble at the end of the back straight prevented him from improving on new tyres late on, opening the door for Crutchlow to finish fastest.
The morning session had belonged to championship leader Andrea Dovizioso but the times were remarkably close, just three tenths of a second covering the top ten. Marquez had finished a close second with Pol Espargaro producing the performance of the morning aboard the KTM, taking third having leapt to the top of the leaderboard just five minutes from the end.
The afternoon session was largely dominated by the Hondas but Marquez lost any hope of topping the timesheets with a crash at the turn six hairpin. In his absence, Crutchlow clocked a 1:38.614 to edge out the other Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa while Johann Zarco led the Yamaha challenge in third. The in-form Andrea Iannone climbed to fourth in the closing stages, relegating Marquez to fifth.
By and large, the afternoon session was the quicker of the two, causing Dovizioso to tumble to sixth after failing to make any significant progress in FP2. Jorge Lorenzo all-but matched his team-mate in seventh with Jack Miller and Valentino Rossi eighth and ninth respectively. Espargaro failed to better his eye-catching FP1 time but the KTM rider clung on the final top ten spot overnight.
2018 Gran Premio Red Bull de Espana: (Friday Practice)
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