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Qatar MotoGP: Marc Marquez dominates second practice for Honda

Honda rider Marc Marquez dominated the second practice session for the 2019 MotoGP season opening Qatar Grand Prix

Reigning champion Marquez grabbed a tow from Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales late in the session to go faster than Johann Zarco's existing lap record from last year.

The session, held in the evening under the lights and therefore more representative for the race than the daytime first and third practice, was delayed by five minutes for track clean-up following ex-MotoGP rider Tom Luthi's big crash exiting the Turn 7 right-hander in Moto2 practice.

When it kicked off, Valentino Rossi's first-practice benchmark was surpassed in almost no time, as Marquez fired in the first sub-1m55s lap of the weekend on just his second flying lap.

He was briefly overtaken by Ducati's Danilo Petrucci a few minutes later, but immediately responded with a 1m54.767s to end his opening run out front.

Marquez remained top for much of the session, until Suzuki rookie Joan Mir took a pair of fresh soft tyres and shot up to first place from 13th with a 1m54.433s as late-session qualifying simulations kicked off.

Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller, also on new softs, soon surpassed Mir, before Franco Morbidelli took his turn out front - having recovered from an earlier high-speed Turn 1 crash that had left his Yamaha on fire.

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso then went quickest with five minutes left on the clock, but was subsequently outpaced by Vinales.

But Marquez crossed the start-finish line moments after the Yamaha man to go almost half a second quicker with a 1m53.380s, the new lap record.

Vinales's effort proved good enough for second, ahead of Miller and the Aussie's former team-mate Petrucci.

Rookie Fabio Quartararo scored an impressive fifth, two places up on Petronas SRT Yamaha team-mate Morbidelli, with Dovizioso slotting in between the pair.

Suzuki's Alex Rins fired in a personal-best lap at the chequered flag to move up to eighth place, ahead of Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro and Mir.

Rins's last-gasp effort demoted Marquez's new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo outside of the top 10, as he ended the session 1.048s off the pace.

Rossi was only 17th, the only rider in the field not to improve on his practice one lap. He and Lorenzo, as well as 13th-placed LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, potentially face having to go through Q1, as posting a better lap time is likely to be difficult in the daytime third practice.

Pol Espargaro led the way among the KTM contingent, posting the 16th-best time, 1.673s slower than Marquez.

Practice two times

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m53.380s - 18
2 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m53.854s 0.474s 16
3 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m53.908s 0.528s 19
4 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Ducati 1m54.053s 0.673s 16
5 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 1m54.154s 0.774s 17
6 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m54.256s 0.876s 17
7 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 1m54.275s 0.895s 16
8 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m54.320s 0.940s 19
9 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m54.367s 0.987s 15
10 Joan Mir Suzuki Suzuki 1m54.402s 1.022s 17
11 Jorge Lorenzo Honda Honda 1m54.428s 1.048s 17
12 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m54.444s 1.064s 17
13 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m54.452s 1.072s 17
14 Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m54.801s 1.421s 16
15 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m55.032s 1.652s 18
16 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m55.053s 1.673s 17
17 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m55.137s 1.757s 16
18 Johann Zarco KTM KTM 1m55.412s 2.032s 17
19 Andrea Iannone Aprilia Aprilia 1m55.432s 2.052s 16
20 Miguel Oliveira Tech3 KTM KTM 1m55.635s 2.255s 18
21 Karel Abraham Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m55.654s 2.274s 16
22 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 KTM KTM 1m56.437s 3.057s 17
23 Bradley Smith Aprilia Aprilia 1m56.834s 3.454s 16


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