After a quiet FP1, all the riders had a lot of work to do in the second Friday practice.
The session started with very little action as spots rain were hanging around the circuit, but after around five minutes there was a flurry of track action as track conditions improved – though it did stay very cold throughout. 13 minutes in and the times had already surpassed the fastest time in the morning practice and it was the Suzuki of Maverick Vinales who did the fastest time in the first stint with a 1m22.800s.
However soon after returning to the track for another stint, Vinales fell victim to Turn 11 with a large crash, causing major damage to his bike. With 17 minutes left in the session, he was able to run back to the pits and get back out on track. A few minutes later and Tito Rabat would also have a fall at Turn 11 ending his session early.
Marquez briefly went slightly faster with 4mins to go but a trio of laps from Vinales was enough for him to regain top spot and then further improve twice more to eventually set a 1m22.161s, which would end up as the fastest time of the session. Right at the end of the session there was also a fall for Eugene Laverty at Turn 1.
Andrea Iannone was second fastest with some late lap times very close to Vinales, confirming his pace shown in the brief FP1 running. Cal Crutchlow also did a good job in fourth place just behind fellow Honda rider Marquez. Ducati and Suzuki can also be encouraged by fifth and sixth place respectively on their other bikes of Andrea Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro.
The factory Yamaha riders had a nightmare session with Rossi 14th and Lorenzo 16th, seemingly having no pace whatsoever. Luckily for them, it looks slightly warmer, and more importantly dry, for FP3 tomorrow so they should be able to get straight into Q2 (if they can make improvements overnight). Dani Pedrosa joined the pair down the order in 15th on his factory Honda and he too will have to have a strong FP3 tomorrow morning.
