All you need to know about Buriram MotoGP practice two

Pramac MotoGP rider Johann Zarco led a Ducati 1-2-3-4 in the second Thai Grand Prix Friday practice session at Buriram.

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Key moments:

> Bagnaia 0.018s behind Zarco

> Quartararo on course for Q2

> Aprilia’s bad day continues

> Two crashes for Crutchlow

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Though rain was expected to dominate the Thai GP weekend, FP2 followed FP1 in offering dry conditions – and with no threat of immediate precipitation, riders were in no rush to run qualifying simulations in an attempt to book a potential Q2 place.

So it took until the closing minutes for Marc Marquez’s FP1 benchmark to be overhauled, this being done by Zarco’s team-mate Jorge Martin on a 1m30.471s.

But Martin would only finish the session third, first overhauled by Ducati’s title hopeful Francesco Bagnaia and then, at the chequered flag, by Zarco.

VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini angered points leader Fabio Quartararo by following him midway through the session, but then returned the favour in towing Quartararo along before placing fourth in the classification.

Early FP2 frustrations! 👀@FabioQ20 wasn't a fan of @Luca_Marini_97 following him 😅#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/7zmzbCh0Jn

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 30, 2022

KTM’s Miguel Oliveira completed the top five, half a second up on team-mate Brad Binder, who is making his Buriram debut in the MotoGP class.

Marquez, Quartararo, Quartararo’s Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli, Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Ducati’s Jack Miller all remain in the combined top 10 on the strength of their FP1 times.

Miller was on course for an improved lap late on, but had to pass LCR Honda stand-in Tetsuta Nagashima – racing in place of Takaaki Nakagami, who is again underdoing finger surgery after his crash at Aragon and painful outing at Motegi – and couldn’t get his Ducati properly stopped at Turn 12.

The last lap rush! 💨#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/QRh86F3R83

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 30, 2022

Among those currently facing a Q1 appearance are Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and the two Aprilias of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales. Espargaro followed Bagnaia on the his fastest lap, but was still six tenths of a second off.

The long, sweeping Turn 3 was the site of three separate crashes during the session, for VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi, Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and RNF Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow.

That's a nasty one in the background for @calcrutchlow! 🤯

The Brit was on a lap that could have taken him into the top 4! 🤯#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/7Tv6AOV1og

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 30, 2022

Crutchlow then also had an unpleasant-looking highside at Turn 7, which had been the scene of a crash for his RNF team-mate Darryn Binder a few minutes prior.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir stand-in Danilo Petrucci was last and didn’t improve on his FP1 time, unable to find a clean lap during the late soft-tyre runs.

Practice 2 Results