Idemitsu Honda’s Taka Nakagami was the shock timesheet topper in this afternoon’s scorching second MotoGP free practice which saw the track temperature soar to an egg-frying 53°C.
Nakagami took charge of the times with a couple of minutes left to run and then cemented it, putting in a 1’37.715 on a hard front/medium rear to secure a provisional qualifying two spot.
The Japanese rider was chased hard by the Avintia Ducati of Johann Zarco who had taken P1 with a 1’37.870 on a hard/soft combo after a tow from Franco Morbidelli but was denied bragging rights by Nakagami.
Third-placed Pol Espargaro went down two corners after setting his fastest time. The KTM man set a 1’37.889 on mediums all round and then took evasive action as he encountered cruising riders at turn two and had nowhere to go but into the kitty litter.
Overall, only Zarco and the injured Cal Cruchlow and Alex Rins improved their times from this morning as the field worked on their setup for the race which takes place at around the same time as second practice.
Morbidelli put in 12 1'38s laps while stablemate Maverick Vinales opted for a hard/medium combination for 13 in the same bracket. Quartararo used the same compounds and did ten 1'38s.
Suzuki's Joan Mir opted for a soft/medium combination and managed ten 1'38s while Valentino Rossi, eighth in the session, did 12 from a total of 23.
Brad Binder started the session on a soft rear that was already six laps old and went on to put another 17 on it which included six 1'38s.
It was a similar story for Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso who started on a rear that was five laps old and he put 20 more on it with seven in the 1'38s, his best of 1'38.442 coming on the penultimate.
