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Practice report
MotoGP Japanese GP

Japan MotoGP: Marquez tops wet FP2 from Martin

Honda rider Marc Marquez topped a red-flagged wet second free practice session for the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday morning.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Despite the threat of a typhoon looming over Saturday's proceedings, the 45-minute FP2 got underway on time at 10.50am local time on a soaked track as teams opted not to modify the schedule.

After the first 10 minutes of running, Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco led the way with a 1m58.054s – though his stint at the top of the standings would be short-lived, the lead changing hands constantly as riders got a feel for the conditions.

When the red flag came out with just over 12 minutes remaining to clear up debris from a crash for Honda’s Pol Espargaro, his teammate Marquez led the way with a 1m55.232s.

Although Marquez initially held an advantage of close to a second over the field, Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin had whittled that down to just 0.144s prior to the brief stoppage.

When the session got back underway, Marquez’s benchmark would go unchallenged through to the chequered flag.

Martin remained second from Jack Miller, who leads the combined order after topping Friday's dry practice session for Ducati, and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.

Zarco ended up fifth on the second Pramac Ducati, though faces Q1 after missing the top 10 by 0.001s following a crash in FP1.

Franco Morbidelli was the lead Yamaha rider in sixth ahead of Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati), Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha).

Bastianini is another rider who will have to face Q1 as a crash in FP1 has left him 14th in the combined order.

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro ended FP2 in 11th but will go directly through to Q2 on the strength of his Friday time along with fellow title contenders Francesco Bagnaia, who was 15th for Ducati, and Quartararo.

Also with a free pass to Q2 are Honda duo Marquez and Pol Espargaro, KTM pair Oliveira and Brad Binder, Marini and the second Aprilia of Maverick Vinales, who was 18th-fastest on Saturday morning.

Binder was 24th-fastest following a crash, the South African sliding off his RC16 at Turn 3 just prior to the red flag.

MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix - FP2 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 93 Spain Marc Marquez Honda 1'55.232  
2 89 Spain Jorge Martin Ducati 1'55.376 0.144
3 43 Australia Jack Miller Ducati 1'55.387 0.155
4 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira KTM 1'55.428 0.196
5 5 France Johann Zarco Ducati 1'55.630 0.398
6 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1'56.168 0.936
7 23 Italy Enea Bastianini Ducati 1'56.197 0.965
8 73 Spain Alex Marquez Honda 1'56.349 1.117
9 10 Italy Luca Marini Ducati 1'56.548 1.316
10 20 France Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1'56.561 1.329
11 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1'56.577 1.345
12 49 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 1'56.588 1.356
13 72 Italy Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 1'56.655 1.423
14 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow Yamaha 1'56.743 1.511
15 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1'56.752 1.520
16 87 Australia Remy Gardner KTM 1'56.851 1.619
17 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1'56.874 1.642
18 12 Spain Maverick Viñales Aprilia 1'56.925 1.693
19 44 Spain Pol Espargaro Honda 1'57.003 1.771
20 25 Spain Raúl Fernández KTM 1'57.292 2.060
21 40 South Africa Darryn Binder Yamaha 1'57.606 2.374
22 45 Japan Tetsuta Nagashima Honda 1'57.656 2.424
23 42 Spain Alex Rins Suzuki 1'57.671 2.439
24 33 South Africa Brad Binder KTM 1'57.827 2.595
25 85 Japan Takuya Tsuda Suzuki 1'58.631 3.399

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