Submitted by Jacob Leech on
Championship leader Dani Pedrosa lead the final sweltering practice session for the MotoGP class at Catalunya. Cal Crutchlow mastered the use of the harder Bridgestone tyre compound and the scalding 51 degree track temperatures to finish only four hundredths behind in-form man Pedrosa. Jorge Lorenzo recovered from his early morning tumble to finish third ahead of his teammate Valentino Rossi and LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl.
After topping FP3, Repsol Honda rookie Marc Marquez had to settle for sixth place ahead of Nicky Hayden, Aleix Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso and Alvaro Bautista completed the top ten. Espargaro had a crash at turn four with ten minutes of the session remaining, the dominant rider of the CRT class was fortunately able to walk away from the minor spill. Avintia Blusens man Hiroshi Aoyama sat out the session due to a severe hand injury which he sustained in his crash in FP3. He was replaced by local Spanish rider Javier Del Amor.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
| 1 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'42.078 | ||
| 2 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | 1'42.122 | 0.044 | 0.044 |
| 3 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | 1'42.387 | 0.309 | 0.265 |
| 4 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'42.606 | 0.528 | 0.219 |
| 5 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'42.721 | 0.643 | 0.115 |
| 6 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'42.865 | 0.787 | 0.144 |
| 7 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | 1'42.921 | 0.843 | 0.056 |
| 8 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | 1'43.173 | 1.095 | 0.252 |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'43.478 | 1.400 | 0.305 |
| 10 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | 1'43.539 | 1.461 | 0.061 |
| 11 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | 1'43.584 | 1.506 | 0.045 |
| 12 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | 1'43.788 | 1.710 | 0.204 |
| 13 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'44.238 | 2.160 | 0.450 |
| 14 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | 1'44.351 | 2.273 | 0.113 |
| 15 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | ART | 1'44.845 | 2.767 | 0.494 |
| 16 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | FTR Kawasaki | 1'44.872 | 2.794 | 0.027 |
| 17 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | FTR | 1'44.914 | 2.836 | 0.042 |
| 18 | 71 | Claudio CORTI | FTR Kawasaki | 1'45.068 | 2.990 | 0.154 |
| 19 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda-Suter | 1'45.072 | 2.994 | 0.004 |
| 20 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | PBM | 1'45.166 | 3.088 | 0.094 |
| 21 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | ART | 1'45.654 | 3.576 | 0.488 |
| 22 | 67 | Bryan STARING | FTR Honda | 1'45.869 | 3.791 | 0.215 |
| 23 | 52 | Lukas PESEK | Ioda-Suter | 1'46.516 | 4.438 | 0.647 |
| 24 | 77 | Javier DEL AMOR | FTR | 1'48.950 | 6.872 | 2.434 |
Comments
Soft compounds
How many of the riders opted for a soft tyre to set a fast time, or were they happy with their efforts from the morning session?
Chop and Change.
It appeared most riders were still trying to sort out their race setup to be honest. Lots of chopping and changing between soft and hard tyres. I would imagine that the general consensus will be leaning towards using the harder compound for tomorrows race though..
Track temp
If it remains hot on Sunday afternoon, judging from what Lorenzo has been doing, the hard tyre will be the go. Espargaro is once again proving an embarrassment to some...
Embarrassment?
I don't think he's proving an embarrassment to anyone, he's just doing himself proud and demonstrating the real potential of the ART machine.. The likes of DePuniet, Abraham and Hernandez should be encouraged and spurred on by Aleix's performances thus far.