Styrian MotoGP: Savadori tops wet second practice for Aprilia

Light rain ahead of the second session ensured Takaaki Nakagami’s 1m23.805s from FP1 as the best time of Friday, as FP2 was mostly run on a wet track.

MotoGP’s wet-weather specialist Danilo Petrucci was the first out on track to test the conditions on his Tech 3 KTM, followed by teammate Iker Lecuona.

Lecuona set the initial benchmark with a 1m37.716s, but immediately crashed at Turn 1 – though suffered no damage and carried on.

Petrucci deposed Lecuona soon after with a 1m36.188s, before the latter returned to top spot with a 1m35.611s, which he improved to a 1m34.319s two laps later.

With just over 15 minutes of the 45-minute session gone, Marc Marquez shot to the top of the order with a 1m33.334s, bettering this to a 1m33.206s on his following tour.

At mid-distance, Marquez edged further clear of the field with a 1m32.841s which went unchallenged until the closing eight minutes of the session when the track began to dry out.

Pramac’s Johann Zarco was the first to better Marquez’s time with a 1m32.807s, before factory Ducati counterpart Francesco Bagnaia went quicker with a 1m32.310s.

Aprilia’s Savadori then took over top spot with a 1m31.304s, while Jack Miller on the other factory team Ducati was the first to venture out on slick tyres.

Miller’s adventure ultimately came to nothing substantial, the Australian 14th at the chequered flag.

Savadori held onto top spot, 0.154s clear of Zarco, while world champion Joan Mir completed the top three on his Suzuki.

Bagnaia was a further 0.616s behind Mir ahead of the sister Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro, while Alex Rins was sixth on the Suzuki.

Alex Marquez leaped up to seventh with his final effort on the LCR Honda, heading Lecuona, Maverick Vinales on the only Yamaha in the top 10 in FP2 and Marc Marquez on the factory Honda.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was 2.1s off the pace in 15th in typically difficult session for Yamaha riders in drying conditions, with Petronas SRT stand-in Cal Crutchlow 20th and the retiring Valentino Rossi on the sister SRT M1 22nd.

Petrucci was shuffled back to 18th after his early run at the sharp-end, while factory KTM rider Miguel Oliveira only completed an out-lap in FP2 due to pain in his wrist from his FP1 crash.

Styrian GP - FP2 results:

Cla	#	Rider		Bike	Time	Gap
1	32	Lorenzo Savadori		Aprilia	1'31.304
2	5	Johann Zarco		Ducati	1'31.458	0.154
3	36	Joan Mir		Suzuki	1'31.566	0.262
4	63	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	1'32.182	0.878
5	41	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	1'32.231	0.927
6	42	Alex Rins		Suzuki	1'32.311	1.007
7	73	Alex Marquez		Honda	1'32.445	1.141
8	27	Iker Lecuona		KTM	1'32.543	1.239
9	12	Maverick Viñales		Yamaha	1'32.685	1.381
10	93	Marc Marquez		Honda	1'32.841	1.537
11	23	Enea Bastianini		Ducati	1'33.024	1.720
12	10	Luca Marini		Ducati	1'33.152	1.848
13	44	Pol Espargaro		Honda	1'33.415	2.111
14	43	Jack Miller		Ducati	1'33.453	2.149
15	20	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	1'33.498	2.194
16	33	Brad Binder		KTM	1'33.589	2.285
17	30	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	1'33.658	2.354
18	9	Danilo Petrucci		KTM	1'33.684	2.380
19	89	Jorge Martin		Ducati	1'33.906	2.602
20	35	Cal Crutchlow		Yamaha	1'33.954	2.650
21	26	Dani Pedrosa		KTM	1'33.954	2.650
22	46	Valentino Rossi		Yamaha	1'34.582	3.278
23	88	Miguel Oliveira		KTM
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