Valencia MotoGP: Miller fastest in FP2 as championship leader Mir crashes - MotoGP News

MotoGP News - Valencia MotoGP: Miller fastest in FP2 as championship leader Mir crashes

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Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller led a tight second MotoGP practice for the Valencia Grand Prix, as championship leader Joan Mir was 11th after a late crash.

Just 0.749 seconds covered the top 19 from Miller down to Alex Marquez in FP2, with the likes of Mir and joint-nearest title rival Fabio Quartararo missing out on a provisional Q2 place after Friday's running.

Franco Morbidelli, just as he did in FP1, set the early pace at the start of the second session with a 1m32.065s.

The Petronas SRT rider then guided his Yamaha to a 1m31.383s, before Johann Zarco on the 2019 Avintia Ducati edged ahead with a 1m31.162s.

Suzuki rider Mir would depose Zarco a few seconds later with a 1m31.080s, before the Frenchman re-established himself at the top of the pile with a 1m31.053s.

This stood as the benchmark for almost 20 minutes, when FP1 pacesetter Takaaki Nakagami set the best lap of the day so far with a 1m30.713s on his year-old LCR Honda.

Championship leader Mir's Friday hit a blip with around 11 minutes to go when he crashed at the Turn 4 right-hander.

A late flurry of time attack laps put Nakagami's lap under threat, but only Miller could surpass it when he fired in a 1m30.662s right at the end of FP2 to end the day 0.091s clear of the Japanese rider.

Miller's Pramac team-mate Francesco Bagnaia completed the top three ahead of KTM's Pol Espargaro, while Zarco was shuffled back to fifth at the chequered flag.

He headed the factory Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, with Cal Crutchlow - who was confirmed as a Yamaha test rider for 2021 earlier on Friday - bagging a provisional Q2 place late on with a 1m30.930s.

Of the top three title contenders, only Suzuki's Alex Rins - who is joint-second in the standings with Quartararo - holds a provisional Q2 spot after finishing FP2 eighth ahead of Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro and the Yamaha of Maverick Vinales.

The final rider currently occupying a Q2 place is Morbidelli, despite ending FP2 13th, with Stefan Bradl (Honda) and Mir ahead of him on the individual session timesheet.

Quartararo was just 0.704s off the pace, but was only 16th in FP2 behind KTM's Brad Binder and Danilo Petrucci on the Ducati, with Tech3's Miguel Oliveira and Valentino Rossi on the sister factory Yamaha behind him.

Marquez matched Rossi's lap with a 1m31.371s, but suffered two crashes during the session. Tito Rabat (Avintia) and Aprilia's Lorenzo Savadori completed the field.

Valencia GP - FP2 results

Pos	Rider	Team	Gap
1	Jack Miller	Pramac Ducati	1m30.622s
2	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda	0.091s
3	Francesco Bagnaia	Pramac Ducati	0.120s
4	Pol Espargaro	KTM	0.199s
5	Johann Zarco	Avintia Ducati	0.277s
6	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	0.304s
7	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	0.308s
8	Alex Rins	Suzuki	0.325s
9	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	0.367s
10	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	0.440s
11	Joan Mir	Suzuki	0.458s
12	Stefan Bradl	Honda	0.484s
13	Franco Morbidelli	Petronas Yamaha	0.503s
14	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	0.608s
15	Brad Binder	KTM	0.639s
16	Fabio Quartararo	Petronas Yamaha	0.704s
17	Miguel Oliveira	Tech3 KTM	0.708s
18	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	0.749s
19	Alex Marquez	Honda	0.749s
20	Tito Rabat	Avintia Ducati	1.436s
21	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	1.771s

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November 13, 2020 at 08:39AM