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With the track hinting at a dry line, rain flags started waving once more just as the countdown was preparing to come on for MotoGP FP2. Not many were keen to test the conditions early on, with only a handful of lap times on the board, but then Jack Miller decided to spice things up 15 minutes into the session, by going out with soft slick tyres and riding around three seconds faster than the wet tyre lot. That tempted several rivals to follow his example but it took a while for the Australian’s top time to be challenged. The challenge came, perhaps unexpectedly, from the Honda side, Takaaki Nakagami claiming top spot in the final 15 minutes before a late shootout got underway. The battle went to the flag but Miller reclaimed top spot by a tenth of a second from Maverick Vinales. The Spaniard snuck into top spots after a subdued session, aided by a late tumble for Nakagami, who dropped to third on the timesheets.

Johann Zarco and Valentino Rossi took the checkered flag within the top five but late cancelled laptimes pushed them back quite a few positions, promoting Danilo Petrucci to fourth. The still convalescent Cal Crutchlow did well to climb into fifth position, ahead of rookie Alex Marquez, who made a late jump into the top six and was the final rider to post a time within a second of the leader. Franco Morbidelli, Pol Espargaro and Joan Mir followed closely, with Zarco securing the final top ten position on the combined standings.

That left Fabio Quartararo 11th, the championship leader opting not to take too much risk in the changing conditions, while Rossi dropped to 12th and Alex Rins 14th. After avoiding any off track action in FP1, the second practice session wasn’t as kind to the premier class, with Andrea Dovizioso losing the front at turn 3 and missing out on the final eight minutes of action, which left him down in 19th position. The Aprilias of Aleix Espargaro and Bradley Smith also joined the gravel trap at turn 3 and 11 respectively, while Brad Binder slid out at turn 7 – all of them ending the session at the bottom end of the timesheets.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 43 Jack Miller Ducati 1’34.356    
2 12 Maverick Viñales Yamaha 1’34.500 0.144 0.144
3 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1’34.857 0.501 0.357
4 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1’35.054 0.698 0.197
5 35 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1’35.141 0.785 0.087
6 73 Alex Marquez Honda 1’35.337 0.981 0.196
7 21 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1’35.369 1.013 0.032
8 44 Pol Espargaro KTM 1’35.374 1.018 0.005
9 36 Joan Mir Suzuki 1’35.385 1.029 0.011
10 5 Johann Zarco Ducati 1’35.408 1.052 0.023
11 20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1’35.489 1.133 0.081
12 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1’35.767 1.411 0.278
13 88 Miguel Oliveira KTM 1’35.837 1.481 0.070
14 42 Alex Rins Suzuki 1’35.838 1.482 0.001
15 63 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1’36.012 1.656 0.174
16 27 Iker Lecuona KTM 1’36.190 1.834 0.178
17 6 Stefan Bradl Honda 1’36.478 2.122 0.288
18 38 Bradley Smith Aprilia 1’36.982 2.626 0.504
19 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1’38.726 4.370 1.744
20 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1’39.361 5.005 0.635
21 53 Tito Rabat Ducati 1’40.165 5.809 0.804
22 33 Brad Binder KTM 1’40.425 6.069 0.260



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