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Lewis Duncan

MotoGP Spanish GP: Quartararo tops FP2 as Marquez crashes

The hotter temperatures greeting the riders this afternoon meant lap times were instantly quicker than they were in the morning.

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia set the early pace with a 1m38.174s, though this was quickly beaten by reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha with a 1m37.970s.

Quartararo’s lap would be deposed at mid-distance, when Joan Mir guided his Suzuki to a 1m37.881s before Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro took over with a 1m37.878s.

While the session was generally without incident, all major on-track moments centred on Honda’s Marc Marquez.

The Spaniard was almost collected by Tech3 KTM rookie Remy Gardner at the final corner around 13 minutes into the session when both Marquez and Honda teammate Pol Espargaro slowed up through the last sector as Gardner was on a flying lap.

Then, with just over 20 minutes to go, Marquez crashed down at the Dani Pedrosa right-hander at Turn 6.

Marquez was able to remount his Honda after the slow-speed off, but he crashed just seconds later at Turn 9 when he touched a lingering damp patch unsighted from the overnight rain trying to stay out of the path of traffic behind.

With around seven minutes remaining, much of the field fitted fresh soft rear rubber for a time attack run.

LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was the first to set a time on a new soft and went straight to the top of the order with a 1m37.778s.

The Japanese rider improved on his following tour to a 1m37.551s, but was powerless to stop Ducati’s Bagnaia from deposing him.

The Italian dropped the pace to a 1m37.283s and bettered this to a 1m37.263s.

But it would be Quartararo on the Yamaha who would end the day fastest of all, as the Frenchman produced a 1m37.071s to lead Friday’s timesheet by 0.201s.

Quartararo led erstwhile championship leader Enea Bastianini on the Gresini-run 2021 Ducati, with Bagnaia completing the top three.

Jorge Martin was fourth on his Pramac Ducati, with Nakagami rounding out the top five ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder and the factory Honda of Pol Espargaro.

Alex Rins was 0.655s off the pace down in eighth on his Suzuki, as FP1-topping teammate Joan Mir was only 12th behind Pramac’s Johann Zarco, Jack Miller on the sister factory team Ducati and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.

Aleix Espargaro was 13th at the chequered flag and visibly angry with Marc Marquez – who was able to complete the session on his second bike - at the end of FP2, the Aprilia rider gesticulating to his fellow Spaniard on the main straight.

Marquez was 19th in the end, 1.1s off the pace, with his LCR Honda-mounted brother Alex Marquez a similarly disappointing 16th having had a strong morning.

The 2022 MotoGP Spanish GP continues on Saturday at 9:55am local time.

MotoGP Spanish GP - FP2 results

Cla Rider Laps Time Gap
1 France Fabio Quartararo 19 1'37.071  
2 Italy Enea Bastianini 20 1'37.272 0.201
3 Italy Francesco Bagnaia 18 1'37.283 0.212
4 Spain Jorge Martin 19 1'37.368 0.297
5 Japan Takaaki Nakagami 21 1'37.581 0.510
6 South Africa Brad Binder 19 1'37.585 0.514
7 Spain Pol Espargaro 21 1'37.590 0.519
8 Spain Alex Rins 22 1'37.726 0.655
9 Spain Maverick Viñales 19 1'37.759 0.688
10 Australia Jack Miller 18 1'37.762 0.691
11 France Johann Zarco 18 1'37.830 0.759
12 Spain Joan Mir 20 1'37.842 0.771
13 Spain Aleix Espargaro 16 1'37.848 0.777
14 Italy Franco Morbidelli 18 1'37.952 0.881
15 Portugal Miguel Oliveira 19 1'38.012 0.941
16 Spain Alex Marquez 21 1'38.027 0.956
17 Italy Luca Marini 16 1'38.102 1.031
18 Italy Marco Bezzecchi 20 1'38.196 1.125
19 Spain Marc Marquez 15 1'38.200 1.129
20 Italy Andrea Dovizioso 21 1'38.285 1.214
21 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio 17 1'38.313 1.242
22 Germany Stefan Bradl 18 1'38.322 1.251
23 Australia Remy Gardner 19 1'38.353 1.282
24 South Africa Darryn Binder 19 1'38.888 1.817
25 Italy Lorenzo Savadori 18 1'38.960 1.889
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