MotoGP Indonesian GP: Espargaro leads Aprilia 1-2 in second practice

A hectic hour of running to end Friday at the Mandalika track concluded with Espargaro firing in a new all-time lap record of 1m30.474s in the closing seconds.

This deposed VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi, who underwent surgery on a broken collarbone five days ago and only turned up to Lombok this morning, after the Italian went top with 10 minutes remaining.

He would end up third behind Maverick Vinales on the second factory Aprilia, while Brad Binder recovered from an early tangle to finish fourth.

Championship leader Bagnaia endured a tough Friday on his factory Ducati and could only go 16th in the second practice.

On target to set a top 10 lap to get directly into qualifying Q2 on his last effort, a mistake at the third-to-last corner resigned him to his first Q1 appearance since the Spanish GP.

The early pace in the hour-long second practice was set by Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, who found out on Thursday that he will be moved aside for Marc Marquez next year.

Di Giannantonio’s time stood firm for around 10 minutes before Aleix Espargaro made his first play for the top of the times with a 1m31.783s, which he duly improved to a 1m31.466s

Team-mate Vinales then took over with a 1m31.351s, before Espargaro found more pace with a 1m31.347s inside the first 15 minutes of the session.

This would keep the Aprilia rider top of the order until the session ticked into its final 15 minutes, when he produced a 1m31.088s to strengthen his position.

Seconds later, Espargaro slid off his RS-GP at Turn 10. At the same time, Vinales went top with a 1m30.853s before Bezzecchi stunned on his year-old Ducati with a 1m30.644s.

Despite his tumble, Espargaro rebounded to post a 1m30.474s with just over a minute remaining, which cemented him top spot by 0.154s from Vinales.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Binder was the unfortunate victim in a crash for fellow KTM rider Augusto Fernandez at the start of the session, when the Tech3 rider slid off his bike at Turn 11 and collected the South African as he ran off track.

Both were unharmed, with Binder finishing the session fourth ahead of form-man Jorge Martin on his Pramac Ducati.

Marc Marquez was sixth on his factory Honda ahead of his rumoured replacement Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) and Di Giannantonio.

Jack Miller on the second factory KTM was ninth despite crashing twice in second practice, while Fabio Quartararo completed the top 10 for Yamaha.

Pol Espargaro missed out on a Q2 place by 0.047s on his Tech3 GasGas ahead of the returning Luca Marini (VR46) following his injury woes in India.

Johann Zarco (Pramac) also missed the Q2 cut, as did RNF’s Raul Fernandez and Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli – all of whom besting Bagnaia in 16th.

Honda’s Joan Mir was trailing Bagnaia on his final flying lap when the Ducati rider made his mistake, with the Spaniard crashing at the same corner and leaving himself in 19th.

Enea Bastianini and Alex Rins, both returning from injury, completed the depleted 21-rider field after Alex Marquez withdrew from the remainder of the weekend due to pain in his recently-fractured ribs.

MotoGP Indonesian GP - FP2 results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

         

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41		Aprilia	23	1'30.474		171.496
2	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12		Aprilia	25	+0.154	0.154	171.205
3	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72		Ducati	25	+0.170	0.016	171.175
4	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	19	+0.288	0.118	170.952
5	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89		Ducati	27	+0.400	0.112	170.741
6	M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team	93		Honda	26	+0.632	0.232	170.307
7	M. Oliveira RNF Racing	88		Aprilia	26	+0.725	0.093	170.133
8	F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing	49		Ducati	22	+0.733	0.008	170.118
9	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43		KTM	22	+0.742	0.009	170.101
10	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	26	+0.755	0.013	170.077
11	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44		KTM	23	+0.802	0.047	169.989
12	L. Marini Team VR46	10		Ducati	20	+0.893	0.091	169.820
13	J. Zarco Pramac Racing	5		Ducati	24	+0.983	0.090	169.653
14	R. Fernández RNF Racing	25		Aprilia	25	+1.026	0.043	169.573
15	F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing	21		Yamaha	23	+1.087	0.061	169.460
16	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1		Ducati	23	+1.161	0.074	169.323
17	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30		Honda	27	+1.181	0.020	169.287
18	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37		KTM	23	+1.332	0.151	169.008
19	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36		Honda	21	+1.653	0.321	168.419
20	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23		Ducati	20	+1.734	0.081	168.271
21	A. Rins Team LCR	42		Honda	20	+1.952	0.218	167.874
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