Jorge Martin pips Quartararo to top the second practice in Aragon

Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin took the lead from series leader Fabio Quartararo and created a 0.074 seconds gap in the second session of Friday’s practice at Motorland Aragon.

The Spanish rider stayed out of the spotlight for the majority of the session as he worked to increase his familiarity with used tires, only switching to new tires as the session came to a close.

On his final run, the Pramac Ducati rider was able to open up a clear gap behind Franco Morbidelli on the second factory Yamaha and took advantage of the Italian’s M1’s slipstream to clock a 1:47.402 second lap on the first of his two, with the possibility of a faster time on the second lap gone to the tour’s second half.

Martin maintained onto the top spot heading into Saturday’s qualifying despite attempts by the returning Marc Marquez and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini to displace him. However, the pair’s mistakes at the penultimate curve prevented this from happening.

A new chassis for his M1 appeared to be working in the early part of the weekend, and Quartararo finished a good second in Aragon, a track he has historically struggled to master. Johann Zarco was third on the sister Pramac Ducati.

Gresini’s Enea Bastianini’s performance was sufficient to place him fourth ahead of Bagnaia’s factory Ducati, as Alex Rins took sixth place on the Suzuki.

Maverick Vinales’ bid to dominate the afternoon session was shortlived as his mistake in the final corner cost him the four-tenths of a second he needed to contend for the top spots. He was the highest-finishing Aprilia ahead of Marquez in seventh.

Luca Marini rounded out the top 10 on his VR46-run Desmosedici behind Jack Miller who made a late improvement to finish ninth.

Takaaki Nakagami had to settle for 11th after Miller forced him out of the top 10 at the last minute, just ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder. Aleix Espargaro has work to do on Saturday after finishing 13th overall following his second accident of the weekend at Turn 14 early in FP2.

The highest-classified rookie was Fabio Di Gianantonio, who finished 16th overall, slightly ahead of fellow newbie Marco Bezzecchi. Cal Crutchlow, who had been out of the race for a year, was back and finished 19th for RNF Yamaha.

2020 MotoGP world champion Joan Mir finished 21st on his first day back on his Suzuki GSX-RR after breaking his ankle at the Red Bull Ring last month. He is taking his time to regain his full pace.

ARAGON MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS