Bagnaia on top as Quartararo fails to secure automatic Q2 spot again

The big storyline heading into FP2 was surrounding Aleix Espargaro and whether he would be able to ride given the physical struggles he endured this morning's opening MotoGP practice.

Espargaro was in tears when sitting at the back of the Aprilia garage due to the pain in his ankle following a cycling accident on Thursday. Espargaro then decided not to finish the session as others set their first time attacks of the weekend. However, Espargaro was out on circuit immediately to start Practice 2.

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Getting all out of shape going into turn one was Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin, as the Le Mans sprint winner ran through the gravel. 

Continuing his impressive pace from FP1, Alex Marquez was the early pacesetter after taking over from Miguel Oliveira. 

Johann Zarco, who will use a special livery for this weekend’s Grand Prix, then went top to lead a Ducati 1-2-3. 

Jorge Martin then made it four Ducatis in the top four and himself, Bagnaia, Zarco and Marquez were the only riders under the 1m 47s barrier.

Only 16th on combined times, Bagnaia was third quickest in Practice 2 as he started to ramp up his pace. 

With just under half the session remaining Bagnaia set the best first sector of P2, however, the lap faded as it went on as he failed to improve on the combined classification. 

Espargaro, who was seventh quickest and one place behind another rider that entered the weekend less than 100% in Miguel Oliveira, made the same mistake as Martin as he ran on at turn one. 

Just the second rider to crash on day-one, Joan Mir’s dreadful 2023 season continued as he went down at turn one.

The rider with the most crashes heading into this weekend, Mir’s fall in FP2 means he has suffered more crashes through six rounds with Honda than the entire 2022 campaign with Suzuki.

Although he seemed to be struggling more as the session went on, Espargaro headed back out on track with a quarter of the session remaining.   

Third in FP1, Binder was again in red hot form when it came to the time attack runs as he began his opening foray with a brilliant opening two sectors before running into traffic. 

When traffic was no longer an issue, Binder made his mark as he went fastest overall from Alex Marquez. 

Ducati then reasserted themselves as the manufacturer to beat as Bezzecchi, Martin and Bagnaia all went quicker. Bezzecchi and Martin broke into the 1m 45s barrier, while Raul Fernandez continued his great start to the Italian MotoGP by slotting into P5.

In the tow of Vinales, Marc Marquez produced a sizzling effort to go quickest before Alex Rins overshadowed his fellow Honda rider by going top.

But the Honda duo were quickly usurped by reigning world champion Bagnaia and Bezzecchi. 

Espargaro also produced a great lap late on to crack the top ten at the expense of teammate Vinales. The Spaniard was not the only big name to miss out as Quartararo also failed to make it directly into Q2.