Japan MotoGP: Marquez tops wet FP2 from Martin

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