Francesco Bagnaia did not dominate, but he was the best performer at the end of FP2. In a session where wet tires were the main focus for the first half of the second practice, the slicks were possible to use and from there all the riders improved their laps. Bagnaia was better than all of his competition, however, with Aleix Espargaró and Fabio Quartararo in the top three.
After the morning session where the riders were faced with Assen’s wet tarmac, the situation was no different at the start of FP2. From the very first laps, the riders were on rain tires and most of them opted for the soft compound.
After around ten minutes, there had been a noticeable improvement in the times of the first session. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) and Alex Márquez (LCR Honda) were both improving, as were Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing/Ducati), all of whom were inside the top ten.
Aleix Espargaro meanwhile improved on a time he had set earlier in the session with a lap of 1:42.457. The Spaniard positioned himself at the top of the timesheet, ahead of Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar). Shortly afterwards, Marquez also improved and set the provisional best time of the day (1:42.115). Zarco was also improving.
With 30 minutes to go, this was the top ten:
Source: motogp.com
Within the next two minutes, the majority of the riders filed into their garages, and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took advantage of the lighter traffic on track to set a lap of 1:41.834 that placed him at the top. That placed Valentino Rossi’s protégé 0.281s ahead of Marquez.
Still with around 15 riders in their respective garages, Aleix Espargaro and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) placed themselves at the top with laps of 1:41.360s and 1:40.540s respectively. The Portuguese rider was then top of the timesheet at a time when Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) was the second fastest KTM rider with the 16th fastest time.
The battle for the top time continued as Johann Zarco managed to edge out Oliveira, with Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) following behind the Portuguese rider. At the same time, Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) was the first to take to the track on slicks – soft front and medium rear – as he set the ninth-fastest time. Pol Espargaro was also called into the pits to change tires on his RC213V. With 19 minutes remaining, Marini had already set the second-best time:
Source: motogp.com
Signaling sectors in red, Valentino Rossi’s half-brother was positioned ahead of all the riders with a time of 1:38.880. At the same time as Marini set the fastest lap, Fabio Quartararo had entered the track on two soft tires, and there were a number of riders who were surrendering slicks on a wet track.
With 13 minutes to go before the checked flag, there were no more riders on track with the rain tyre. Three minutes later, the timesheet was as follows:
Source: motogp.com
Almost all the riders were improving times by displaying orange and red sectors on soft tires. Exactly for that reason, the top ten changed constantly and it was very difficult to stay with the best lap for any length of time.
With five minutes remaining, Miguel Oliveira lost the lead to Francesco Bagnaia who set a lap of 1:34.498; the difference between the two riders was no more than two-tenths of a second. Marco Bezzecchi took his compatriot off the top with a lap still in second 34, but it would be Fabio Quartararo who would be first into second 33 (1:33.908s).
Into contention also came Alex Rins and Johann Zarco with laps in second 34… before Aleix Espargaro was the second man into second 33. The Aprilia rider beat Quartararo by over two-tenths of a second, but nothing was guaranteed until the checkered flag what shown.
In the end, and after all the decision, Francesco Bagnaia turned out to be the strongest on track. With a time of 1:33.274, the 2021 runner-up was ahead of Aleix Espargaro by 0.178s and ahead of Fabio Quartararo by three-tenths of a second. Alex Rins and Jack Miller were in the top five.
Source: motogp.com