Reigning Champion Marc Marquez topped FP1 at the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya, and the Spaniard kept his throne in the afternoon to go quickest in a dry FP2 and head the combined timesheets on Day 1 by four tenths.
The man on the chase was compatriot Jorge Lorenzo, who shot up into P2 in the afternoon in a strong showing on his race debut at the venue for Ducati. Rookie Jonas Folger impressed to lock out the top three, and ended the day only 0.044 ahead of Mugello winner Andrea Dovizioso in fourth.
Bad weather in the morning saw rain ahead of track action leave the circuit in need of full wets, before FP1 was completed on slicks and the sun stayed out to give the field a fully dry FP2.
Behind the top four, Danilo Petrucci was another Italian keeping his momentum from his hometown heroics going, completing the fastest five on Friday ahead of another impressive showing from local rider Tito Rabat in sixth. Rabat graduated to Q2 for the first time in Mugello, and took P11 in the race.
Johann Zarco took P7, just ahead of another home hero in the form of three-time World Champion Dani Pedrosa in eighth. Alvaro Bautista was ninth quickest on combined timesheets, and escaped unharmed from a slow crash in the final sector in FP2.
Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) completed the top ten on Day 1 at the venue on which he won last season – almost his most recent victory – as teammate and Championship leader Maverick Vinales ended Friday in sixteenth. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) was another high profile name further down the timesheets, taking P19 after a crash in FP2.
FP2 Practice:
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. | |
| 1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’44.295 | ||
| 2 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati Team | 1’44.700 | 0.405 / 0.405 | |
| 3 | Jonas FOLGER | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’44.839 | 0.544 / 0.139 | |
| 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’44.883 | 0.588 / 0.044 | |
| 5 | Danilo PETRUCCI | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1’44.890 | 0.595 / 0.007 | |
| 6 | Tito RABAT | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’44.922 | 0.627 / 0.032 | |
| 7 | Johann ZARCO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’45.063 | 0.768 / 0.141 | |
| 8 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | 1’45.098 | 0.803 / 0.035 | |
| 9 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 1’45.116 | 0.821 / 0.018 | |
| 10 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’45.118 | 0.823 / 0.002 | |
| 11 | Hector BARBERA | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’45.311 | 1.016 / 0.193 | |
| 12 | Scott REDDING | OCTO Pramac Racing | 1’45.375 | 1.080 / 0.064 | |
| 13 | Andrea IANNONE | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’45.465 | 1.170 / 0.090 | |
| 14 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’45.554 | 1.259 / 0.089 | |
| 15 | Loris BAZ | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’45.755 | 1.460 / 0.201 | |
| 16 | Maverick VIÑALES | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1’45.810 | 1.515 / 0.055 | |
| 17 | Jack MILLER | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’45.868 | 1.573 / 0.058 | |
| 18 | Karel ABRAHAM | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 1’45.932 | 1.637 / 0.064 | |
| 19 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda | 1’45.967 | 1.672 / 0.035 | |
| 20 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’46.682 | 2.387 / 0.715 | |
| 21 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’46.946 | 2.651 / 0.264 | |
| 22 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’47.002 | 2.707 / 0.056 | |
| 23 | Bradley SMITH | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’47.892 | 3.597 / 0.890 |
Source: MotoGP.com
