Practice report
MotoGP Catalan GP
Barcelona MotoGP: Morbidelli fastest in FP2 despite crash
Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli topped the second practice for the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix despite an early crash, with Avintia’s Johann Zarco also recovering from a crash to finish second.
Lewis Duncan
Edited: Sep 25, 2020, 1:10 PM
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Morbidelli took control of the timesheets in the opening five minutes of this afternoon’s session, setting the initial pace at a 1m41.143s on his ‘A-spec’ Petronas Yamaha.
The San Marino race winner improved to a 1m40.672s on his follow-up tour, with his next effort of 1m40.573s standing as the benchmark for much of the session.
Morbidelli carried on his run on the medium rear tyre, though it was halted with around 25 minutes of the session left to run after sliding off his Yamaha at the Turn 10 left-hander.
The high wind caused havoc in the preceding Moto3 FP2, and several MotoGP riders were caught out in the first 20 minutes of the session.
Zarco crashed his Avintia Ducati at the Turn 5 left, while Honda’s Stefan Bradl tucked the front of his RC213V going through Turn 2.
Morbidelli’s time was put under threat on Joan Mir’s first flying lap on fresh soft rubber, with the Suzuki rider missing out by 0.062s in the end with under eight minutes to go.
Valentino Rossi on the factory Yamaha got even closer on his first time attack, guiding his M1 to a lap just 0.002s outside of his protege’s best effort.
Mir lit up the timing screens on his next lap and took his Suzuki to a 1m40.441s to take over top spot.
KTM’s Brad Binder was the first rider to dethrone Fabio Quartararo’s best from FP1 when he fired in a 1m40.008s to lead the field by four tenths at one stage.
But his reign was short-lived, as Morbidelli and Zarco were putting in fastest sectors on their final laps.
Morbidelli put in the best effort, a 1m39.789s to end Friday fastest of all ahead of the Frenchman, who ended up 0.109s off at the chequered flag.
Binder completed the top three ahead of Maverick Vinales on the works team Yamaha and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, ensuring three 2019 bikes occupied top five spots.
Mir was shuffled back to sixth ahead of the sister KTM of Pol Espargaro, while Alex Marquez (Honda), Rossi and the second Suzuki of Alex Rins completed the top 10.
A late issue for Quartararo meant he was unable to get out for a time attack and ended up 14th on the timesheets.
FP2 proved difficult for the GP20-mounted Ducati riders, with Jack Miller (Pramac) almost a second off the pace in 11th, while Andrea Dovizioso was 1.3s adrift of Morbidelli in 18th.
Francesco Bagnaia was 20th and Danilo Petrucci 2.4s off the pace in 22nd in last, though only Miller completed a soft tyre run on his GP20 in the end.
Catalan Grand Prix - FP2 results:
Cla Rider Bike Time Gap 1 Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'39.789 2 Johann Zarco
Ducati 1'39.898 0.109 3 Brad Binder
KTM 1'40.008 0.219 4 Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'40.208 0.419 5 Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'40.412 0.623 6 Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'40.441 0.652 7 Pol Espargaro
KTM 1'40.474 0.685 8 Alex Marquez
Honda 1'40.478 0.689 9 Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'40.502 0.713 10 Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'40.538 0.749 11 Jack Miller
Ducati 1'40.626 0.837 12 Cal Crutchlow
Honda 1'40.754 0.965 13 Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'40.791 1.002 14 Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'40.860 1.071 15 Iker Lecuona
KTM 1'40.871 1.082 16 Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'41.028 1.239 17 Bradley Smith
Aprilia 1'41.095 1.306 18 Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati 1'41.124 1.335 19 Stefan Bradl
Honda 1'41.260 1.471 20 Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'41.337 1.548 21 Tito Rabat
Ducati 1'41.673 1.884 22 Danilo Petrucci
Ducati 1'42.257 2.468 View full results
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