Ducati’s Andrea Dovisioso narrowly came out on top in Friday’s MotoGP free practice, as less than one tenth of a second split the fastest four in a dramatic opening day at Chang International Circuit and less than a second separated the first 17 riders.
Dovi’s time of 1:31.090 was 0.031 faster than Maverick Vinales best lap, just ahead of LCR Honda Castrol’s Cal Crutchlow and runaway championship leader, Marc Marquez. The Italian’s injured factory Ducati team-mate and five times world champion, Jorge Lorenzo, had his woes compounded when the rear wheel of his GP18 appeared to lock-up under braking for the Turn 3 hairpin, where riders have to stop their machines from over 300km/h. He was thrown viciously over the high side of his bike, which destroyed itself before coming to rest in the gravel, while the rider went into a nasty egg-beater of a roll. Despite being stretchered off after landing heavily on his already damaged right foot, the Spaniard, who is a lot tougher than his detractors like to admit, is expected to continue, sustaining only bruising to his right ankle and bruising and abrasions to his left wrist and arm. To the team’s credit, Ducati later released a statement which said that a technical malfunction caused the crash. A few minutes later, Reale Avintia’s Xavier Simeon appeared to hit some fluid on the track at the same corner, which brought out the red flags in FP2. Scott Redding was another rider to get off his bike spectacularly at Turn 4, the fast, dipping left-hander.
Danilo Petrucci was a shade behind the front four, from the in-form Andrea Iannone, an impressive Alvaro Bautista, Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and Johann Zarco, who completed the top 10.
Of Thailand’s two Moto3 wildcard riders, AP Honda’s Somkiat Chantra shone brightest in Moto3, getting within three tenths of a second of Ayumu Sasaki’s best time of the day to rank tenth and staying two tenths ahead of his compatriot and rival in the CEV Repsol Junior World Championship, Apiwat Wonthananaon, who ended up 16th. Honda Team Asia’s Thai Moto3 regular rider, Nakarin Atiratphuvaphat, was a further second down in 29th.
Moto2 wildcard, Thitipong Warakorn, had a disappointing first day on the SAG Team’s Moto2 Kalex. He recorded a best lap of 1:38.699, which was 1.8 seconds slower than Mattia Pasini, who topped Friday’s timesheets. The highly rated Thitipong, who did similar lap times on a superstock-spec Supersport 600 Kawasaki during the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) in March, never looked comfortable on his machine. After the hype surrounding the Thai star’s entry, SAG need to raise their game for qualifying on Saturday.
All four Thai riders will find themselves stretched further on Day 2, as the established intermediate and junior class stars get more familiar with circuit designer Hermann Tilke’s deceptively tricky Thai track.
