European MotoGP: Miller stays on top in FP2 on drying track

Most of the field headed out of slicks at the start of FP2 as a drying line had started to appear, which meant lap times tumbled in the early stages.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir and the championship leader set the early pace with a 1m41.581s and traded top spot with Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci, before Pol Espargaro went fastest on the KTM with a 1m37.284s.

FP1 pacesetter Miller moved clear 10 minutes in with a 1m37.029s on his Pramac Ducati having almost come to blows with Maverick Vinales at Turn 8.

Miller’s lap would be bettered by sole Tech 3 rider this weekend Miguel Oliveira with a 1m35.754s, though the Australian quickly re-assumed control with a 1m34.613s.

Lap times continued to improve, with Francesco Bagnaia on the sister Pramac GP20, Oliveira, Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Pol Espargaro taking turns at the top of the standings.

The latter’s late time attack effort of a 1m32.952s stood as the benchmark for the final nine minutes, but came under threat in the closing moments as the field placed their bids for a provisional Q2 place with wet weather on the forecast for Saturday morning.

Franco Morbidelli beat this on his final lap with a 1m32.804s on his Petronas SRT Yamaha, though he was immediately beaten by Miller, who fired in a 1m32.528s to end the day fastest of all.

Aprilia’s Espargaro jumped up to second to push Morbidelli down to the third at the chequered flag, but remains the leading title contender on Friday.

Takaaki Nakagami was fourth on the LCR Honda, with Pol Espargaro shuffled back to sixth ahead of Rins and KTM’s Brad Binder – who will have to serve a long lap penalty on Sunday for his collision with Miller at Aragon last month.

Andrea Dovizioso was eighth on the factory Ducati, ahead of Fabio Quartararo, the SRT rider making a marked improvement from the morning when he was stone last.

Championship leader Joan Mir held onto the final provisional Q2 place on his Suzuki after improving to 10th late on with a 1m33.405s, though it came at the expense of Maverick Vinales.

It was confirmed during the session that Vinales will have to start Sunday’s race from pitlane as Yamaha has had to exceed his engine allocation to fit a sixth unit.

A late crash for Danilo Petrucci left the Ducati rider in 18th, with his efforts to run from the Turn 14 gravel trap back to his garage in the closing stages all for nothing as Ducati didn’t have his second bike prepared.

He headed Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha stand-in Garrett Gerloff, who was running as high as fifth at one stage before being shuffled back to 19th – albeit ending up just 1.5s off the pace. 

FP2 results:

Cla	Rider		Bike	Time	Gap
1	Jack Miller		Ducati	1'32.528
2	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	1'32.620	0.092
3	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	1'32.804	0.276
4	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	1'32.866	0.338
5	Pol Espargaro		KTM	1'32.952	0.424
6	Alex Rins		Suzuki	1'33.157	0.629
7	Brad Binder		KTM	1'33.259	0.731
8	Andrea Dovizioso		Ducati	1'33.292	0.764
9	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	1'33.337	0.809
10	Joan Mir		Suzuki	1'33.405	0.877
11	Maverick Viñales		Yamaha	1'33.410	0.882
12	Cal Crutchlow		Honda	1'33.045	0.517
13	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	1'33.483	0.955
14	Stefan Bradl		Honda	1'33.504	0.976
15	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	1'33.515	0.987
16	Alex Marquez		Honda	1'33.570	1.042
17	Johann Zarco		Ducati	1'33.739	1.211
18	Danilo Petrucci		Ducati	1'33.775	1.247
19	Garrett Gerloff		Yamaha	1'34.107	1.579
20	Lorenzo Savadori		Aprilia	1'35.661	3.133
21	Tito Rabat		Ducati	1'36.690	4.162
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