Franco Morbidelli bounced back from an early crash in the second MotoGP free practice at Catalunya to set the quickest time of the day.
The Petronas Yamaha man, who was victorious at Misano two weekends ago, had gone down at turn ten but came back out fighting with a medium/front tyre combination to set a 1’39.789 which was enough to push rookie Brad Binder into second place.
But fellow former Moto2 champion Johann Zarco, another early crasher at turn six, had designs on top spot and missed it by a tenth, pushing South African Binder back to third place.
The KTM man found 2.23 seconds over the lunch break after struggling in the morning session and did his time entirely on his own to top the timesheets, if only briefly, before being busted down two spots.
Monster Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales again started his second session with a full fuel tank to increase the available data for the opening few laps of a race. He settled down to a decent rhythm on mediums all round, putting in 17 laps and also bagged fourth place in the combined sheet after a change to a soft rear and new medium front.
Taka Nakagami was again the leading Honda with a 1’40.412 on soft Michelins all round while former championship leader Fabio Quartararo didn’t get his last flying lap in after a bike problem forced the Frenchman back into the garage.
Quartararo didn’t improve on his morning session time but the 1’40.431 was still enough to keep Suzuki’s Joan Mir at bay.
The Suzuki rider ended his day in seventh with a 1’40.441 while Pol Espargaro pushed Alex Marquez, who he replaces at Repsol Honda next season, into ninth place.
Valentino Rossi was the last of the Yamaha riders and only improved by 0.034s in the afternoon but it was enough to guarantee a qualifying two place should it rain in free practice three tomorrow morning.
Alex Rins took his Suzuki to 11th place with Jack Miller struggling in 12th. Cal Crutchlow braved it out to find eight-tenths of a second to end his day on a 1’40.754. Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Dovizioso completed the top 15.
