A sudden downpour just before Friday’s second 45-minute practice session for the MotoGP class left the Misano circuit saturated and would ensure that Maverick Vinales would finish the day the fastest thanks to his FP1 time.
Since the weather forecast for the whole weekend was uncertain, the track was quickly populated when the pit lane opened at the beginning of FP2.
The rainy weather specialist Iker Lecuona set the early pace with his Tech3 KTM with 1: 50.567 minutes and would continue to lead the field.
However, the Spaniard’s session came to a crunchy early stop just over 12 minutes before the end when he made a highsider at Turn 1 and hit the tarmac heavily – Lecuona hobbled cautiously off the scene.
During the entire session, the top position changed hands frequently as the drivers got more used to the wet conditions.
Just 20 minutes before the end, Ducati’s Jack Miller had worked his way up to the top of the ranking with 1: 42.885 minutes.
That lap stood until the last five minutes when teammate Francesco Bagnaia drove to the top of the rankings with 1: 42.858 minutes.
The Aragon GP winner then improved to 1: 42.657, but it wouldn’t keep him in the lead as Zarco found the pace late and finished the session fastest at 1: 42.097.
Bagnaia and Miller made sure it would be a Ducati 1-2-3 at the end of FP2, with Suzuki’s Joan Mir at the helm, followed by Marc Marquez on the Honda.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Miguel Oliveira was sixth among the top KTM runners, albeit 1.1 seconds behind Zarco’s benchmark, while Tech3’s Danilo Petrucci left Oliveira 0.095 seconds behind.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro finished eighth with 1: 43.629 minutes, while Lecuona stayed in ninth place despite his late fall and Alex Marquez completed the top 10 on his LCR Honda.
Franco Morbidelli finished the session as the top Yamaha runner in 13th place with a 1: 43.844 minutes while continuing his adaptation to the factory Yamaha while team-mate Quartararo’s rain battles continued.
The Frenchman has admitted at various points this year that the M1 lacks pace in wet conditions and those issues persist at Misano, where Quartararo made his first wet on-site appearance 2.1 seconds behind former teammate Maverick Vinales lay Aprilia.
Andrea Dovizioso was not far from Quartararo in 21st place when he did his first wet session on the Petronas SRT Yamaha, while KTM’s Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro’s Honda were similarly reluctant in 20th and 19th places respectively.
Misano MotoGP – FP2 Results