Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) (AFP)

The Yamaha-SRT of the Italian Franco Morbidelli and of the French Fabio Quartararo achieved Friday the two best times of the second free practice session MotoGP of the Spanish Grand Prix on the circuit of Jerez.

It is the first event for the queen category of the 2020 World Championship, the start of which has been delayed for several months by the coronavirus epidemic.

Contested in very hot weather, the second session saw the two riders of the Yamaha satellite team grab first places in front of the surprising South African Brad Binder (KTM) who begins this season in MotoGP.

These conditions should be those of the race, the start of which will be given on Sunday at 2 p.m.

However, it was the six-time Spanish world champion, and title holder Marc Marquez, who posted the best combined time of the first two free practice sessions.

The cooler temperatures allowed the drivers to turn faster in the morning than in the afternoon, except for Fabio Quartararo, the only one who managed to improve his time.

The Niçois could not have done better than 17th time in the morning, deprived of the first 20 minutes of the session following a penalty for having used a non-compliant motorcycle during private tests in June.

A third free practice session is scheduled for Saturday morning which will decide the drivers directly admitted to Q2, with qualifications being scheduled from 2:10 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. Saturday.

According to the system in force for MotoGP, the riders having achieved the best ten times combined during the first three free practice sessions participate directly in the qualifying session on Saturday (Q2), which determines the order of the first 12 places on the starting grid. The other drivers must participate in a preliminary qualifying session (Q1) and the two best times are drafted for Q2.

Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati-Avintia) obtained him the 8th time of the 2nd session and the 11th of the two sessions combined.

Classification of the combined times of the two MotoGP free practice sessions held on Friday at the Jerez circuit (Andalusia):

1 Marc Marquez (ESP / Honda) 1.37: 350

2. Maverick Vinales (ESP / Yamaha) at 0.024

3. Cal Crutchlow (GBR / Honda-LCR) 0.088

4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA / Ducati) 0.121

5. Joan Mir (ESP / Suzuki) 0.131

6. Jack Miller (AUS / Ducati-Pramac) 0.137

7. Alex Rins (ESP / Suzuki) 0.219

8. Pol Espargaro (ESP / KTM) 0.362

9. Iker Lecuona (ESP / KTM-Tech3) 0.364

10. Brad Binder (AFS / KTM) 0.573

11. Johann Zarco (FRA / Ducati-Avintia) 0.590

...

15. Fabio Quartararo (FRA / Yamaha-SRT) 0.802

© 2020 AFP