At the end of a session which will have lasted almost two hours, following two red flags, Jack Miller established the best time of EL2 to everyone’s surprise. The Australian broke the track record, as did Maverick Viñales and Francesco Bagnaia behind him. Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo are in the top-10, they will be directly in Q2. Author of a fall at the end of the session, Marc Marquez will have to go through Q1.
What a second free practice session! For the first weekend in the history of the sprint format, FP2 kept all its promises. And yet, all had not started well. After about fifteen minutes, the red flag put the session on hold. A technical problem prevented the timing of the pilots, causing a stoppage of more than twenty minutes.
Fourteen minutes from the end of the session, a second interruption took place after a big fall for Pol Espargaro. The GasGas Tech3 rider was initially treated in the gravel pit at turn 10. The Catalan is aware that he is currently in hospital in Faro, one hour from the circuit, but his participation following the weekend end is uncertain.
Back to full speed, the rest of the grid put on a show in the last ten minutes. Transparent during the winter tests, Jack Miller sublimated his KTM over a lap to take first position in 1’37”709, smashing the old circuit record by more than a second. Maverick Viñales ranks second, 0.037 behind the Australian. World champion Francesco Bagnaia is third ahead of the Ducati of Luca Marini, who made a mistake, and Jorge Martin.
Satisfaction on the French side with the double qualification in Q2 of the French. Fabio Quartararo finished sixth, one place ahead of Johann Zarco. With the new sprint format, the third session no longer counts and Friday’s top-10 goes immediately to the second qualifying phase.
Marco Bezzecchi (8th), Aleix Espargaro (9th) and Enea Bastianini (10th) are the last three qualified. Small disappointment for Alex Marquez, best time this morning, who finished eleventh.
Honda also has reason to be disappointed. In form during FP1, the Japanese manufacturer will have all its bikes in Q1. Joan Mir fell early in the session and finished twelfth. Marc Marquez fell in the very last moments, preventing him from setting another fast lap. The eight-time world champion ranks fourteenth, between the two LCRs of Alex Rins and Takaaki Nakagami.
Other than Jack Miller, the other KTMs are still struggling. Augusto Fernandez is sixteenth more than six tenths from qualifying. Brad Binder finishes in a distant eighteenth place. The Aprilias of the RNF team will also go through Q1. Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez both went to the mat and even finished outside the top-15.
After a final practice session, the MotoGP will take to the track for qualifying from 11.50am.
Portimao (GP du Portugal ) – FP2 MotoGP :
