Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Red Bull Ring MotoGP: Marquez beats Vinales to top Friday practice

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez was quickest in the second Friday practice session at the Red Bull Ring, beating Maverick Vinales by 0.066s

Having finished second in the opening practice, Marquez equipped a new soft rear tyre and posted the first sub-1m24s effort of the weekend less than 10 minutes into the session.

No other rider came within even four tenths of Marquez's 1m23.916s for the next half-hour, until satellite Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami moved up to second place, 0.382s off.

Petronas Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo then snatched second place from Nakagami, but the Japanese rider was quicker again on his next attempt, now coming up 0.155s short of his Honda stablemate Marquez's effort.

With less than a minute left on the clock, Vinales lapped within 0.066s of Marquez as the second rider below 1m24s - but as the chequered flag flew, Marquez would ultimately go unmatched, despite himself forgoing a customary late run on a fresh rear tyre.

Nakagami and Quartararo made up the top four, with Pramac rider Jack Miller ending the day as the fastest of the Ducatis, 0.392s off the pace in fifth.

Miguel Oliveira was a standout sixth for Tech 3 KTM, four places up on Pol Espargaro, with both currently on course to automatically make Q2 at the manufacturer's home race.

Danilo Petrucci spent most of the session in second place but did not improve on his final run, ending up an eventual seventh. Also failing to improve late on was his works Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso, the Italian crashing out at Turn 3 and having to settle for ninth.

A last-gasp flyer from LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow put him between the two Ducatis, and relegated Valentino Rossi out of the combined practice top 10. Rossi and 12th-placed Alex Rins, the sole Suzuki representative this weekend, are two riders who thus need to improve in FP3 if they are to progress to Q2 directly.

Oliveira's Tech 3 teammate Hafizh Syahrin was cleared to resume competing this weekend after his nasty FP1 crash. The Malaysian ended up 21st and last in FP2, but was just 1.353s off the pace.

FP2 results

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m23.916s - 23
2 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m23.982s 0.066s 23
3 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m24.071s 0.155s 23
4 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 1m24.153s 0.237s 23
5 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m24.308s 0.392s 22
6 Miguel Oliveira Tech3 KTM KTM 1m24.326s 0.410s 23
7 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Ducati 1m24.330s 0.414s 22
8 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m24.336s 0.420s 21
9 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m24.411s 0.495s 20
10 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m24.418s 0.502s 23
11 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m24.532s 0.616s 25
12 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m24.540s 0.624s 24
13 Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m24.598s 0.682s 21
14 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 1m24.630s 0.714s 23
15 Stefan Bradl Honda Honda 1m24.755s 0.839s 25
16 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m24.865s 0.949s 22
17 Johann Zarco KTM KTM 1m24.948s 1.032s 17
18 Andrea Iannone Aprilia Aprilia 1m25.003s 1.087s 22
19 Karel Abraham Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m25.139s 1.223s 20
20 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m25.233s 1.317s 25
21 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 KTM KTM 1m25.269s 1.353s 19

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Red Bull Ring MotoGP: Dovizioso beats Marquez late in first practice
Next article Could Lorenzo really move to Pramac Ducati?

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe