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Styria MotoGP: Espargaro tops FP2 from Nakagami

KTM's Pol Espargaro led the second MotoGP practice for the Styrian Grand Prix, with LCR's Takaaki Nakagami trailing him at the Red Bull Ring

Espargaro's Austrian GP came off the rails at the restart, with a strong victory chance going walking after he ran out of his preferred medium tyres, while a crash with Tech3 KTM's Miguel Oliveira ended his afternoon early.

Showing good pace all weekend during the Austrian GP, Espargaro picked up where he left off by topping the combined timesheets on Friday.

The KTM rider led the early part of the session with a 1m24.301s, which he improved to a 1m24.203s just seven minutes into the afternoon outing.

This stood for some time as race preparation seemed to be the plan for most of the field, though Suzuki's Alex Rins began lighting up the timing screens when he fitted a fresh soft slick to his GSX-RR with 16 minutes to go.

Rins - who was in contention for victory last week before crashing out - fired in a 1m24.122s to finally depose Espargaro's time.

As the whole filed went for a time attack in the closing stages, Espargaro re-assumed control at the top of the standings with a 1m23.764s - the fastest time of the day.

The KTM rider improved to a 1m23.638s on his final effort, which went unchallenged through to the chequered flag.

Nakagami guided the year-old Honda to second, 0.266 seconds back, while Austrian GP podium finisher Joan Mir completed the top three on the Suzuki.

He headed team-mate Rins, with Maverick Vinales fifth on the factory team Yamaha ahead of Oliveira and Petronas SRT's Franco Morbidelli.

Aleix Espargaro was eighth in FP2 on the Aprilia, though is still outside of the provisional Q2 places on the combined times.

KTM duo Brad Binder, who holds a provisional Q2 place currently, and Tech3's Iker Lecuona - who does not - rounded out the top 10.

Valentino Rossi is also outside of the provisional Q2 spots currently after ending FP2 in 11th ahead of Honda's Alex Marquez and LCR's Cal Crutchlow.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo cut a frustrated figure again on his SRT Yamaha, after several offs under braking prompted an angry response from the Frenchman.

He is out of the provisional Q2 places and was 14th in FP2, with Andrea Dovizioso following him in 15th.

Despite not getting into the top 10 places in FP2, both Dovizioso and FP1 pacesetter Jack Miller [17th] do hold Q2 places currently having not fitted a fresh soft tyre in the closing stages this afternoon for a time attack.

MotoGP Styria FP2 results

Pos Rider Team Gap
1 Pol Espargaro KTM 1m23.638s
2 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda 0.266s
3 Joan Mir Suzuki 0.269s
4 Alex Rins Suzuki 0.371s
5 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 0.422s
6 Miguel Oliveira Tech3 KTM 0.480s
7 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha 0.549s
8 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 0.728s
9 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 0.740s
10 Brad Binder KTM 0.789s
11 Iker Lecuona Tech3 KTM 0.791s
12 Alex Marquez Honda 0.825s
13 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 0.922s
14 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha 1.005s
15 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1.136s
16 Michele Pirro Pramac Ducati 1.169s
17 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati 1.287s
18 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1.347s
19 Bradley Smith Aprilia 1.387s
20 Stefan Bradl Honda 1.419s
21 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati 1.583s

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