Espargaro dominates second Styrian GP practice for KTM

KTM rider Pol Espargaro set the fastest lap of Friday practice in the second MotoGP session at the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.

Espargaro and Suzuki’s Alex Rins were both outside the top 10 in FP1, having forgone a soft-tyre run, but both broke into the combined classification top 10 early on in second practice.

Espargaro took the early lead with a 1m24.203s, while Rins was just 0.022s slower afterward, with both lapping on the medium rear.

Rins then equipped the soft rear with 20 minutes to go, and jumped ahead of Espargaro by eight-hundredths, only for the KTM man to surpass him with his own first soft-rear flying lap of the weekend with five minutes left on the clock.

The 1m23.764s effort took Espargaro over three and a half tenths clear in the top spot, and he went quicker still a couple of minutes later, a 1m23.638s ensuring he would end Friday as the pace-setter.

Joan Mir had taken second from Suzuki team-mate Rins in the closing minutes, only to be shuffled down to third by LCR Honda’s FP1 pace-setter Takaaki Nakagami after the chequered flag.

The Japanese rider lapped 0.003s quicker than Mir, but a quarter of a second slower than Espargaro.

Maverick Vinales moved up to fifth on the medium rear late on, ahead of Tech3 KTM rider Miguel Oliveira and Petronas Yamaha man Franco Morbidelli.

Morbidelli’s team-mate Fabio Quartararo had a frustrating end to the session, appearing in rage when he failed to get the bike stopped at Turn 1 and then running through the gravel at Turn 4.

He and the second works Yamaha of Valentino Rossi – who finished the session in ninth – are both currently outside of the combined classification top 10 and thus face potentially having to go through Q1 on Saturday.

Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller, who made it a Ducati 1-2 in the Austrian Grand Prix, were only 15th and 17th yet are both currently on course to automatically make Q2 by the strength of their FP1 efforts.

As was communicated on Thursday, Johann Zarco has not been passed fit to contest either Friday practice session – but he could still be cleared to participate in the race weekend from Saturday onwards.

Practice 2 Results