Submitted by David Emmett on
Bradley Smith has topped the timesheets in the sweltering afternoon session at Barcelona, the Monster Tech 3 rider posting a quick lap late in the session to take top spot. Smith was challenged by LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl, the German having led earlier in the session, but Bradl came up just short, Smith holding on by seven thousandths of a second.
Marc Marquez set the 3rd fastest time, an improvement both in time and position from this morning, the Repsol Honda rider just edging Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo. Pol Espargaro had an impressive afternoon session, taking 5th spot ahead of Valentino Rossi, who ended the day as last of the Yamahas, half a second off the time set by Smith. A fleet of Ducatis followed Rossi with Andrea Dovizioso at its head, in front of Yonny Hernandez on the Open Ducati GP13 in 7th, and Andrea Iannone on the second Pramac Ducati in 8th. Dani Pedrosa rounded out the top 10, the Repsol Honda rider struggling to find his form at his home Grand Prix.
As it stands, Aleix Espargaro, Smith, Bradl, Marquez, Lorenzo, Iannone, Rossi, Pol Espargaro, Pedrosa and Dovizioso are through to Q2 tomorrow afternoon. The riders get one more chance tomorrow morning, where the cool temperatures should allow for times to be improved upon.
Results:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | 1'42.123 | ||
| 2 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 1'42.130 | 0.007 | 0.007 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'42.274 | 0.151 | 0.144 |
| 4 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'42.282 | 0.159 | 0.008 |
| 5 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'42.608 | 0.485 | 0.326 |
| 6 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'42.629 | 0.506 | 0.021 |
| 7 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'42.812 | 0.689 | 0.183 |
| 8 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | 1'42.860 | 0.737 | 0.048 |
| 9 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'43.037 | 0.914 | 0.177 |
| 10 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'43.078 | 0.955 | 0.041 |
| 11 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Honda | 1'43.160 | 1.037 | 0.082 |
| 12 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Forward Yamaha | 1'43.198 | 1.075 | 0.038 |
| 13 | 45 | Scott Redding | Honda | 1'43.612 | 1.489 | 0.414 |
| 14 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Ducati | 1'43.725 | 1.602 | 0.113 |
| 15 | 5 | Colin Edwards | Forward Yamaha | 1'43.819 | 1.696 | 0.094 |
| 16 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1'43.908 | 1.785 | 0.089 |
| 17 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Avintia | 1'43.961 | 1.838 | 0.053 |
| 18 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | Honda | 1'44.027 | 1.904 | 0.066 |
| 19 | 7 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Honda | 1'44.096 | 1.973 | 0.069 |
| 20 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Honda | 1'44.125 | 2.002 | 0.029 |
| 21 | 70 | Michael Laverty | PBM | 1'44.525 | 2.402 | 0.400 |
| 22 | 23 | Broc Parkes | PBM | 1'44.852 | 2.729 | 0.327 |
| 23 | 63 | Mike Di Meglio | Avintia | 1'45.482 | 3.359 | 0.630 |
| 24 | 84 | Michel Fabrizio | ART | 1'47.329 | 5.206 | 1.847 |
Comments
any news
on hayden how is his hand feeling?
Hayden's hand
Hayden said his hand is holding up. Not perfect, but he can ride. The hand looks a lot less swollen than a couple of weeks ago.
More info here
David also elaborates on Hayden's wrist issue in the Friday round-up article:
http://www.motomatters.com/analysis/2014/06/13/2014_barcelona_motogp_fri...
Cal Who ?
Hate to say it and David can shoot me down in flames, but Cal is rapidly becoming the forgotten man of 2014. His performance on the Ducati has been uninspiring and yet again his is falling off and injuring himself.
He desperately wanted a factory bike and seemed to know the risk of switching to Ducati, but his stock has fallen IMHO badly so far this year.
Hardly a surprise
Well, there's no disgrace in failing on the duke, it's ruined a good few careers to date, all on the back of one stunning season and the right rider in the right place at the right time.
Short memories
One season? One rider? Short memory. Capirossi/Ducati lead the championship and threatened for the title before that massive tangle with Gibernau at ironically this very circuit in 2006. Not to mention Bayliss stepped straight off his WSB 999 onto the D16 for the last race of the season to take the win (Bayliss and Capirossi finsished 1-2) so it was obviously a very handy bit of gear before Stoner got anywhere near it.
Does anybody know if Aleix
Does anybody know if Aleix used the new chassis today?
No. Edwards only
According to the Nick Harris commentary team, Aleix is happy with the Yamaha chassis. There are two new chassis, both being used by Colin.