Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori displayed his wet-weather mastery at Spielberg this afternoon, topping MotoGP’s Styrian FP2 with a 1’31.304 from Pramac’s Johann Zarco.
Suzuki’s Joan Mir continued his strong Friday showing in third as Pecco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro joined the mix in the top-five.
The rain arrived as FP2 fired up at the Red Bull Ring, a tentative start finding Iker Lecuona down at turn one as the pack began to file out of pit exit. Quickly recovering his Tech3 machine, the Spaniard continued to head the times as the session developed, his sixth lap registering a 1’34.319, before Marc Marquez took over, nine-tenths clear.
Danillo Petrucci sat behind his teammate, in third, after the opening 15-minutes, Jack Miller and Alex Marquez running fourth and fifth before Brad Binder arrived and latched on to the back of the KTM train.
Miller was winding up his Desmosedici as he advanced the times to third, Pol Espargaro joining his Repsol captain at the top of the times moments later. Alex Rins circulated behind the trio of KTM’s, in seventh, with Jorge Martin, Bagnaia and Zarco locking out the top-10 for Ducati at the halfway stage.
The pace increased as the track began to dry, Marquez pushing the Honda with a 1’32.841 on his 11th effort, with Lecuona improving likewise, just three-tenths adrift. Luca Marini joined the more experienced Ducati riders inside the top-10, in eighth, as his elder brother, Valentino Rossi, ran as top-Yamaha aboard the Petronas machine in 14th. Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Viñales and Cal Crutchlow sitting 19th, 21st and 22nd respectively with 20-minutes to go.
Back at the front and Mir was finding his groove in the challenging conditions, claiming third from Espargaro before Zarco demoted the second Repsol further. Savadori provided another surprise at the top of the times as the Aprilia announced himself in second, the Italian continuing to improve with an additional personal best next time around while his teammate floundered in 20th.
The closing eight minutes saw Viñales improve to 10th, as the Ducati’s powered up. Zarco headed the times with a 1’32.807, Bagnaia joining Miller in seventh and eighth as the timing screens were ablaze of red. First Lecuona then Bagnaia advanced the pace before Savadori took his turn to lead, 1’31.304 now the time to beat, albeit almost eight-seconds slower than the morning’s best.
Mir was the next to rise, sitting second with less than two-minutes remaining, as Viñales headed Marquez, Aleix Espargaro and the two Avintia machines in the second half of the top-10. The second Aprilia looked to join his rookie team-mate as he improved to third, Bagnaia’s late effort demoting Espargaro with Zarco heading Mir for second and third in the dying seconds. Rins claimed sixth from Alex Marquez and Lecuona with Viñales and the elder Marquez concluding he session in ninth and tenth.
