Jorge Martin pips Quartararo to top the second practice in Aragon

Jorge Martin pips Quartararo to top the second practice in Aragon

Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin took the lead from series leader Fabio Quartararo and created a 0.074 seconds gap in the second session of Friday’s practice at Motorland Aragon.

The Spanish rider stayed out of the spotlight for the majority of the session as he worked to increase his familiarity with used tires, only switching to new tires as the session came to a close.

On his final run, the Pramac Ducati rider was able to open up a clear gap behind Franco Morbidelli on the second factory Yamaha and took advantage of the Italian’s M1’s slipstream to clock a 1:47.402 second lap on the first of his two, with the possibility of a faster time on the second lap gone to the tour’s second half.

Martin maintained onto the top spot heading into Saturday’s qualifying despite attempts by the returning Marc Marquez and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini to displace him. However, the pair’s mistakes at the penultimate curve prevented this from happening.

A new chassis for his M1 appeared to be working in the early part of the weekend, and Quartararo finished a good second in Aragon, a track he has historically struggled to master. Johann Zarco was third on the sister Pramac Ducati.

Gresini’s Enea Bastianini’s performance was sufficient to place him fourth ahead of Bagnaia’s factory Ducati, as Alex Rins took sixth place on the Suzuki.

Maverick Vinales’ bid to dominate the afternoon session was shortlived as his mistake in the final corner cost him the four-tenths of a second he needed to contend for the top spots. He was the highest-finishing Aprilia ahead of Marquez in seventh.

Luca Marini rounded out the top 10 on his VR46-run Desmosedici behind Jack Miller who made a late improvement to finish ninth.

Takaaki Nakagami had to settle for 11th after Miller forced him out of the top 10 at the last minute, just ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder. Aleix Espargaro has work to do on Saturday after finishing 13th overall following his second accident of the weekend at Turn 14 early in FP2.

The highest-classified rookie was Fabio Di Gianantonio, who finished 16th overall, slightly ahead of fellow newbie Marco Bezzecchi. Cal Crutchlow, who had been out of the race for a year, was back and finished 19th for RNF Yamaha.

2020 MotoGP world champion Joan Mir finished 21st on his first day back on his Suzuki GSX-RR after breaking his ankle at the Red Bull Ring last month. He is taking his time to regain his full pace.

ARAGON MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS

POS RIDERNATTEAMTIME/DIFFLAPMAX
1^11Jorge MartinSPAPramac Ducati (GP22)1’47.402s16/18346k
2^6Fabio QuartararoFRAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.074s16/18344k
3^2Johann ZarcoFRAPramac Ducati (GP22)+0.107s18/19344k
4^2Enea BastianiniITAGresini Ducati (GP21)+0.181s17/17350k
5˅3Francesco BagnaiaITADucati Lenovo (GP22)+0.237s18/18350k
6˅3Alex RinsSPASuzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)+0.263s17/19344k
7^8Maverick ViñalesSPAAprilia Racing (RS-GP)+0.276s15/17344k
8^3Marc MarquezSPARepsol Honda (RC213V)+0.359s14/15346k
9^4Jack MillerAUSDucati Lenovo (GP22)+0.398s16/16346k
10=Luca MariniITAMooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)+0.491s3/17346k
11˅7Takaaki NakagamiJPNLCR Honda (RC213V)+0.509s16/19341k
12^8Brad BinderRSARed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.510s15/16345k
13˅12Aleix EspargaroSPAAprilia Racing (RS-GP)+0.549s4/12344k
14˅5Franco MorbidelliITAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.600s15/17344k
15˅8Miguel OliveiraPORRed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.640s17/17343k
16^5Fabio Di GiannantonioITAGresini Ducati (GP21)*+0.827s14/15344k
17˅3Marco BezzecchiITAMooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)*+1.073s16/16345k
18=Alex MarquezSPALCR Honda (RC213V)+1.119s4/17341k
19˅3Cal CrutchlowGBRWithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)+1.129s18/18344k
20^4Darryn BinderRSAWithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)*+1.216s15/17344k
21˅4Joan MirSPASuzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)+1.219s16/17344k
22^1Raul FernandezSPAKTM Tech3 (RC16)*+1.286s3/16345k
23˅4Pol EspargaroSPARepsol Honda (RC213V)+1.341s5/18345k
24˅2Remy GardnerAUSKTM Tech3 (RC16)*+1.350s16/17338k

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