Jack Miller completed a stunning MotoGPFriday practice at Qatar this evening to head the times just 0.007s away from Marc Marquez’ all-time lap record.

Fabio Quartararo was the only rider to upset Ducati’s dominance at the Losail Circuit, with the Yamaha man claiming third in the final seconds from Johann Zarco, with Pecco Bagnaia comfortably ahead in second.

A dramatic start to the MotoGP second practice saw red flags flying after just seven minutes of action as debris from circuit infrastructure lay scattered across the start/finish straight.

Miller held court with a 1’54.571, thanks to his third-lap effort, ahead of team-mate Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro as the bikes returned to the desert track. The Australian got straight down to business once again as he continued to fine-tune his times, with Zarco joining the party on his sixth lap to lock out the top-three for Ducati.

Espargaro, however, was the man on the move as the Aprilia advanced the standings into the 53’s, with a 1’53.789, closely pursued by Alex Rins and an ever-improving Bagnaia.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo led Maverick Vińales for sixth and seventh with Joan Mir, Pol Espargaro and Alex Marquez completing the top-10 with 15 minutes gone.

Miller was back on a charge minutes later as he claimed second, the younger Espargaro finding his grove with the Repsol machine to take fifth ahead of Mir as the standings shuffled once again.

Further down the pack Valentino Rossi headed teammate Franky Morbidelli for 12th, before the laid-back Italian leapfrogged his mentor to take 10th on his 10th lap. The veteran spent the mid-session circulating alongside younger brother Luca Marini in the standings with the LCR pairing of Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami ahead.

Miguel Oliveira briefly entered the top-10 on his 10th lap of the late-evening session to split the factory Yamahas for ninth before Marquez’s seventh-place effort demoted the KTM rider. Rookie Enea Bastianini would add insult to injury as he too relegated the Portuguese rider, stealing 10th as he impressed on his Avintia debut.

As the clock counted down, Quartararo was heating up, storming second on his M1 before improving again to head the times with a 1’53.697 on his next revolution with Vińales claiming third shortly after.

12 minutes to go and it was Jorge Martin’s turn to shine as the Pramac rookie set his sights on the top-10, taking ninth with a 54’4 before Rossi pushed him to the edges of the promotion zone with a P7 lap. Bagnaia set the times alight with a 1’53.4, and just eight minutes left to play out as Morbidelli also promoted himself to fifth.

The pack headed back out on soft rubber for the closing minutes with Miller the first to make an impact, ’53.3 now the target as once again Ducati locked out the top-three, thanks to Bagnaia and Zarco.

Quartararo stole third from his countryman in the final seconds with teammate Vińales the first to find the flag, for sixth, moments later.

A late crash from Honda’s Espargaro brought out the yellow flags, putting a disappointing dent in both Bagnaia and Morbidelli’s last-lap push with the Petronas rider forced to settle for seventh at the end of Friday.

Miller claimed the session with a blistering 1’53.387 time, 0.03s from Bagnaia and Quartararo, with Zarco, Rins and Vinales completing the top-six ahead of Morbidelli. Teammate, Rossi, completed the session surrounded by the Espargaro brothers in the final provisional Q2 positions with Mir the wrong side of the cutoff in 11th.

Marquez finished Friday in 12th from Martin, Nakagami and Bastianini with Brad Binder concluding a difficult day for KTM ahead of Marini, Stefan Bradl, Oliveira, Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona. Lorenzo Savadori concluded proceedings in 22nd.