Practice report

Austria MotoGP: Dovizioso tops drying second practice

Ducati factory rider Andrea Dovizioso set the pace in a mainly dry second MotoGP practice at the Red Bull Ring, beating Yamaha's Maverick Vinales by two tenths.

The track hadn't fully dried up for FP2 following a heavy shower right after first practice.

Consequently, the first 15 minutes saw little action with only a few riders, led by Avintia Ducati's Loris Baz, coming out on track.

Then, Honda rider Marc Marquez soon took over the lead and improved a few times to sit first with a time of 1m24.649s, a time nearly identical to Hector Barbera's FP1 benchmark.

During the final five minutes, Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha), Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda) all went faster, but Vinales was ahead by the time the chequered flag fell.

However, Dovizioso lowered the benchmark by 0.234s with his final flyer, which was a 1m24.046s.

Vinales ended up second, followed by Pedrosa, Zarco and Lorenzo.

Marquez dropped as low as sixth, the Spaniard nearly crashing at Turn 4 in the late stages as he ran through the gravel.

LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow was seventh, the Briton seemingly frustrated with Pramac Ducati rider Scott Redding for impeding.

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, Redding and Aspar Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista completed the top 10.

The second factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi had another low-key session, as he only finished 12th, narrowly behind top KTM rider Pol Espargaro.

Second practice results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'24.046
2	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'24.280	0.234
3	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'24.474	0.428
4	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'24.522	0.476
5	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'24.616	0.570
6	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'24.649	0.603
7	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'24.668	0.622
8	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'24.726	0.680
9	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'24.765	0.719
10	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'24.780	0.734
11	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'24.859	0.813
12	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'24.883	0.837
13	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1'24.925	0.879
14	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'24.935	0.889
15	94	Jonas Folger	Yamaha	1'24.992	0.946
16	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'25.218	1.172
17	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'25.258	1.212
18	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1'25.270	1.224
19	36	Mika Kallio	KTM	1'25.320	1.274
20	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1'25.335	1.289
21	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'25.369	1.323
22	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'25.452	1.406
23	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1'25.616	1.570
24	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'25.664	1.618