Marini leads Martin, Miller as Ducati dominate FP2 in Valencia
Down in 17th on combined times to start the final MotoGP practice of the day, Francesco Bagnaia made an early error heading into turn eight which resulted in him having to use the escape road to find his way back onto the circuit.
While Bagnaia remained aboard his Ducati machine, the same could not be said for three riders who endured crashes in very quick succession.
All three falls occurred in sector one as Franco Morbidelli went down first. The Yamaha rider was then followed by Gresini Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio who went down at turn two.
Having already crashed at turn two in FP1, Marc Marquez then suffered another fall but this time at the very fast turn one.
While Fabio Quartararo’s brilliant start to the weekend continued as he went quickest on combined times, closely followed by Suzuki’s Alex Rins, more crashes took centre stage as Aleix Espargaro fell at turn five.
Rins, who was just under a tenth behind Quartararo, was then pushed down to fourth as Marini and Miller put their Ducatis into contention. Marini and Miller’s efforts resulted in the top four being separated by just +0.089s.
Like in FP1, medium tyres front and rear or a hard front and medium rear seemed to be the favoured options between riders up and down the grid.
Showing strong pace on both combinations, Quartararo was using the hard front during his second stint of FP2 compared to the double medium this morning.
Taking the tally of crashes up to five, RNF Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow suffered a front-end crash at turn two.
Coming under increasing pressure at the top of the leaderboard, Quartararo was eventually bettered with just under 20 minutes to go as Marini went fastest.
With Ducati on the march, Martin was next to find big improvements as he went third, while Bagnaia went eighth quickest.
There was nearly drama between two Yamaha riders as Quartararo put a brave move on Binder heading into the final corner. Contact was made between the pair as the latter was pushed wide as a result.
As the time attacks began, Miller was the first rider to go underneath the 1m 31s barrier. However, the Australian was soon bettered by nearly fourth tenths by Marini.
As the times behind Marini continued to fall, Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia and Marquez all challenged Marini’s time before Martin jumped into second spot.
Quartararo was pushed down to eighth, one place ahead of Bagnaia, while both factory KTM’s also found their way into the top ten.
