Catalunya MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro secures top spot with a new lap record in Friday Practice

KTM were impressive to start the second Friday MotoGP practice session as Jack Miller went top before team-mate Brad Binder took over at the top.

Pedro Acosta was also fast despite being emboirled in a tussle with Fabio Di Giannantonio coming out of turn ten.

Miller soon returned to the top of the leaderboard ahead of Binder and Acosta, while Maverick Vinales lost some rear bodywork less than five minutes into the session.

But KTM’s hot start was soon diminished when Binder suffered a big fall going through turn two.

Binder momentarily lost the front coming out of turn one before it lifted off the tarmac, causing a slip off on the exit of the corner.

Sporting some new aero on the side of his factory Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo soon needed repairs to his M1 after losing the front at turn five.

After three falls on Friday at Le Mans, Binder’s crash streak continued as he suffered a second turn two fall in Practice 2 at Catalunya.

Although it wasn’t as vicious a crash this time around, the South African rider went down again at turn two.

Not finished there with the crashes, Fabio Di Giannantonio joined namesake Fabio Quartararo in going down at turn five.

Marc Marquez was one of the first riders to begin the soft tyre runs, however, Marquez failed to deliver a big lap despite finding time and moving up to fifth.

Maverick Vinales was the next to try his hand and he did find a big chunk in lap time as he went quickest ahead of Miller. 

There was an impressive turn of pace from Yamaha’s Alex Rins as the Spaniard moved up to P5. 

Vinales improved again before team-mate Aleix Espargaro went top with a low 1m 39s time.

Top spot then changed again as Martin went close to beating his lap record from last season.

Martin set another fastest lap with his next effort, while Pramac Ducati team-mate Franco Morbidelli moved into P5.

As Morbidelli nearly matched Martin one lap later, Di Giannantonio suffered his second fall, this time at turn ten.

Acosta then jumped up to second - +0.011s behind Martin which pushed Binder outside the top ten.

Late drama took place for Gresini Ducati as Alex Marquez crashed, leading to himself but also brother Marc failing to secure automatic Q2 places.

At the front, Aleix Espargaro claimed top spot with a new lap record ahead of Binder and Acosta.