Aragon MotoGP: Marquez leads Lorenzo in FP2

Marquez outpaced future Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo by 0.138s in a late-session dash.

Suzuki's Andrea Iannone had set the early pace with a 1m48.381s, and remained out front for almost the whole 45-minute duration of FP2, as leading riders focused on getting mileage with the sturdier hard rear tyre.

But when Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso emerged on the soft front and soft rear in the closing minutes, the Italian overhauled his former teammate's benchmark by over half a second, setting the new best lap of the weekend on a 1m47.835s.

LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow had been even quicker after three sectors, but following Dovizioso across the line the Briton came up 0.027s short.

However, fellow Honda rider Marquez then fired in a 1m47.382s to end the day quickest.

As the chequered flag flew, Lorenzo vaulted up from 11th to second, demoting his works Ducati teammate Dovizioso another spot.

Crutchlow settled for fourth, while Iannone improved at the chequered flag to snatch fifth place from Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci.

Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Nieto Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista followed in seventh and eighth respectively, although both were a second off Marquez's pace.

The factory Yamaha team underwhelmed, but both Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales sneaked into the combined classification top 10, which will determine automatic progression to the pole shootout after FP3 on Saturday.

Rossi was ninth, while Vinales stole 10th place at the death by a tenth from Marc VDS Honda rider Franco Morbidelli.

Two frequent Q2 participants - Suzuki factory rider Alex Rins and Tech 3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco - struggled, rounding out the top 17.

Avintia debutant Jordi Torres improved upon his FP1 showing but remained 24th, lapping 3.7s off Marquez's pace.

Session results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'47.382
2	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'47.520	0.138
3	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'47.835	0.453
4	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'47.862	0.480
5	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'47.919	0.537
6	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'48.134	0.752
7	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'48.389	1.007
8	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'48.452	1.070
9	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'48.501	1.119
10	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'48.552	1.170
11	21	Franco Morbidelli	Honda	1'48.654	1.272
12	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'48.680	1.298
13	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'48.808	1.426
14	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'48.850	1.468
15	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'48.861	1.479
16	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'48.902	1.520
17	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'48.997	1.615
18	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'49.016	1.634
19	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1'49.123	1.741
20	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	1'49.441	2.059
21	12	Thomas Luthi	Honda	1'49.690	2.308
22	10	Xavier Simeon	Ducati	1'49.925	2.543
23	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Yamaha	1'49.937	2.555
24	81	Jordi Torres	Ducati	1'51.081	3.699