Submitted by Zara Daniela on
The thermometer saw a few extra degrees by the time the premier class exited pitlane for FP2 but some extra clouds were also to be seen over the circuit. After allowing his young Petronas branded nemesis the limelight in the breezy morning, Marc Marquez headed out straight on a fresh soft rear tyre and went nearly a second quicker than the opposition. The gap was pretty quick to come down but the first real threat to the world champion’s leading time only came in the final time attack, when Maverick Viñales snatched the top of the timesheets with two minutes remaining of FP2. That wasn’t to last, Fabio Quartararo eager to bring home another headline and taking over top spot at the checkered flag. Both Yamaha riders were briefly tempted by the hard rear tyre and showed good pace on it, while Marquez stuck to the same soft rear throughout the session, on route to third and his rhythm once again matching Viñales.
Jack Miller was the lead Ducati man, despite a really slow tip-off at turn two in the final third of the session. The Pramac rider was only two and a half tenths slower than the leader and almost two tenths faster than Franco Morbidelli in fifth position. Alex Rins climbed to sixth, with teammate Joan Mir only half a tenth behind but getting quite a bit of airtime throughout the session, showing good speed on the soft rear tyre. Aleix Espargaro climbed all the way to eighth, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, who got an impromptu shower after some unidentified fluid squirted from behind his screen - but it did not impact much on his already modest performance in the session, the Italian finishing ninth.
Johann Zarco joined the provisional top ten, dumping teammate Cal Crutchlow into the clutches of Q1 as things stand. Unless they all find some speed in FP3, the LCR rider would be joined in the first qualifying session by Danilo Petrucci, Michele Pirro or Valentino Rossi. Quite unusually for the Italian, Rossi did the double with his crashes on Friday, this time folding the front at turn 10, only 15 minutes into the session and limiting his track time with a change of leathers. After he rejoined on his second machine, the best he could do was 14th, one second down on Quartararo.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'30.735 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'30.883 | 0.148 | 0.148 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'30.974 | 0.239 | 0.091 |
| 4 | 43 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | 1'31.000 | 0.265 | 0.026 |
| 5 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'31.199 | 0.464 | 0.199 |
| 6 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'31.230 | 0.495 | 0.031 |
| 7 | 36 | Joan MIR | Suzuki | 1'31.280 | 0.545 | 0.050 |
| 8 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | 1'31.305 | 0.570 | 0.025 |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'31.351 | 0.616 | 0.046 |
| 10 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | Honda | 1'31.369 | 0.634 | 0.018 |
| 11 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1'31.433 | 0.698 | 0.064 |
| 12 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'31.455 | 0.720 | 0.022 |
| 13 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'31.765 | 1.030 | 0.310 |
| 14 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'31.775 | 1.040 | 0.010 |
| 15 | 63 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | 1'31.868 | 1.133 | 0.093 |
| 16 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Honda | 1'31.880 | 1.145 | 0.012 |
| 17 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 1'31.905 | 1.170 | 0.025 |
| 18 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'32.159 | 1.424 | 0.254 |
| 19 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'32.278 | 1.543 | 0.119 |
| 20 | 82 | Mika KALLIO | KTM | 1'32.467 | 1.732 | 0.189 |
| 21 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia | 1'32.568 | 1.833 | 0.101 |
| 22 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | KTM | 1'32.887 | 2.152 | 0.319 |
| 23 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 1'33.114 | 2.379 | 0.227 |
