MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

After an underwhelming morning, the men left stranded outside the top 10 in FP1 fought back and held the lead throughout the second practice session, starting with Luca Marini, continuing with teammates Alex Marquez and Xavi Vierge and finally Brad Binder taking charge for the final handful of minutes. The KTM rider followed through on the promise he showed in Assen and finished the day almost four tenths faster than his rivals. Brushing off an early off-road adventure in turn one, Vierge recovered to second position, setting an identical time to Iker Lecuona in third.

Augusto Fernandez joined the top four, while Marquez’s late charge was halted when he went down at turn three with five minutes remaining, the short burst of flames on his machine presumably cutting into the Marc VDS mechanics' bedtime and dropping the Spaniard to fifth in the session. Lorenzo Baldassarri and Tetsuta Nagashima were the final riders within half a second of the leader, while Marcel Schrotter was eighth in FP2 and failed to improve on his FP1 time. FP1 leader Jonas Folger was in the same situation, 13th in the session but 4th on combined standings, courtesy of this morning’s achievement.

Marini and Tom Luthi completed the top ten in FP2, ahead of rookies Fabio Di Giannantonio and Jorge Martin. It was another rodeo ride for Jorge Navarro and a subdued afternoon for Enea Bastianini, but both riders finished only seven tenths off the leader, with the top 23 riders covered by one second. Sam Lowes’ 16th position isn’t a very accurate reflection of his speed either, the Gresini rider losing significant track time after toppling down early on at turn three.

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