Ducati Lenovo’s Jack Miller dominated Friday’s FP2 with a 1’41.305 lap time to sit a second clear of the rest of the MotoGP field at Misano.
Morning master Johann Zarco sat second at the close of play from a late-charging Aleix Espargaro after the Aprilia rider seemed to struggle throughout the day’s wet conditions.
The afternoon practice got underway on a slowly drying track, with the rain having abated from its lunch time deluge. Miller and Pecco Bagnaia were straight out and running strong as they claimed the early standings, just a second adrift of Zarco’s morning benchmark.
Miguel Oliveira once again joined the early fight, in second to split the factory Ducatis with his fourth lap, Joan Mir and Fabio Quartararo sitting fourth and fifth after 10 minutes on track before Zarco arrived to second moments later.
Miller took command overall as conditions began to improve. The Australian recording a 1’41.547 to sit well over a second ahead of his teammate in FP2 and eight-tenths over his Pramac rival in the combined times.
Marc Marquez was the first non-Ducati, in fourth as Friday practice continued. Quartararo running off track as conditions in the third sector caught the Yamaha out.
Iker Lecuona maintained his impressive wet showing by taking second with half an hour to go, the Tech3 rider running 1’42.5 pace as he affirmed his position in the midst of the Ducati front runners.
Luca Marini sat sixth at home from Jorge Martin, Quartararo, Oliveira and Michele Pirro. Suzuki’s Alex Run and Mir split by Pol Espargaro just outside the all-important top 10.
The reigning-champion was on the move at the halfway stage as Mir progressed to seventh, then fifth as Miller advanced the pace once again, this time by a further two-tenths. Rins joined him in Q2 contention in eighth next time around ahead of Marini and Quartararo before Alex Marquez dumped the title-challenger out of the promotion zone with a move to seventh.
Espargaro crashed out with 15 minutes to go from 14th in the standings, the Repsol rider up and okay after losing the front at turn 13.
A difficult return to Misano found the Aprilia trio headed by test rider Lorenzo Savadori in 15th, Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales circulating in 19th and 21st respectively with less than 10 minutes of Friday left to run. Franky Morbidelli split the Noale pair on the second Monster Yamaha with Petronas pairing Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi further back in 22nd and 23rd.
A dry line began to appear in the final five minutes, and with rain expected on Saturday morning a late push looked pivotal for qualifying promotion. Quartararo was still circulating in 12th with two minutes remaining, Savadori improving to ninth before Martin rose to sixth and the Italian wildcard claimed fifth moments later.
Marquez sat in the danger zone as the final minute got underway, his younger brother just 0.004s ahead with Danilo Petrucci 0.08s behind before the Tech3 rider’s final effort found seventh. Further drama saw Marini and Aleix Espargaro arrive in sixth and third respectively to deny Mir, Enea Bastianini, both Marquez brothers, Rins and Quartararo provisional Q2 places.
