Lorenzo takes the momentum in second practice

Jorge Lorenzo’s strength at Jerez was in evidence again on Saturday morning when the Fiat Yamaha rider set the quickest time in the second practice session of the Gran Premio bwin de España. The Spaniard’s time of 1’39.089 set him apart from closest rival Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) by a margin of 0.460s, and was a little over a tenth off his pole position time from last year’s race.

Pedrosa’s improved display after a promising opening session the previous day will have given him another boost, and the quickest rider from day one Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) was third fastest at 0.630s off Lorenzo.

Second Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso registered a top four time, with World Champion Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) repeating his ranking of fifth fastest as he continued to show signs of being limited by his painful shoulder.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech3), in his second hour-long session on the Andalusian track, continued to set himself higher standards with the sixth best time of 1’40.012 and was the final rider to get within a second of Lorenzo. LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet was seventh and experienced a fall as he lost the front of his RC212V in Turn 10, but he returned quickly to set a best lap just eight-hundredths off that of Spies.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) had a high speed crash midway through the session as he went down in Turn 7, just managing to avoid what could have been a nasty highside. The American escaped injury and was eighth quickest, with Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) completing the top ten.

The hour-long qualifying session for MotoGP begins at 1.55pm local time this afternoon.