While news that Marc Marquez intends to make his MotoGP return at next week’s two-day Misano test was confirmed by HRC at the start of FP2, the on-track action saw Johann Zarco become the first crasher of the weekend.
The Pramac rider lost the front at turn one, a fate both factory Yamaha riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli nearly suffered in FP1. Zarco’s GP22 machine suffered considerable damage and was thus not used again.
After Zarco’s early fall, Ducati’s start to FP2 took another big blow as Francesco Bagnaia went down at turn 13.
In a position to create history this weekend – Bagnaia will become the first Ducati rider to win four consecutive MotoGP races for the Italian brand should he claim victory on Sunday – Bagnaia was able to momentarily keep hold of second place on the leaderboard.
However, that soon changed when Aprilia began to show their true pace. Aleix Espargaro went quickest after setting the fastest lap of the weekend to that point, while Maverick Vinales split Quartararo and Bagnaia in third.
While Aprilia were turning up the heat in terms of quick laps, Alex Rins suffered from not having enough heat in the left side of his front tire as he crashed at turn 15.
Backing up the notion that Aprilia should be back to fighting for the win after a disappointing Austrian MotoGP, Vinales set a blinding time of 1:31.882s to go three tenths clear of Espargaro.
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After finishing second in FP1, Jack Miller also made his way up the order as he split the two Aprilias with 15 minutes remaining.
Fresh off his one-year deal with Aprilia RNF for 2023, Miguel Oliveira made a good start to the Misano Grand Prix for KTM as he positioned himself in seventh with ten minutes to go.
Once again showing how strong he was in the final sector, Quartararo, who began to challenge Vinales for top spot, gained nearly a tenth of a second to go fastest by 0.004s.
With the all-important time attacks underway, Oliveira’s good start to Friday practice came to a disappointing end as he crashed at turn 10.
With just one lap needed in order to make the difference, Bagnaia jumped up to first place with a time of 1:31.631s, however, Bastianini went even quicker to make it a Ducati 1-2.
Things then got even better for the Italian manufacturer as Miller went third, one place ahead of Zarco.
Unable to fight back, Quartararo had to settle for fifth place while Vinales and Espargaro made it sixth and seventh for Aprilia.