Miller leads Ducati 1-2 in Qatar MotoGP FP2, Mir facing Q1

Jack Miller led a factory Ducati 1-2 in the second MotoGP practice session of 2021, with Suzuki’s reigning champion Joan Mir on course to have to fight through Q1.

With FP1 and FP3 being held in traditionally less optimal daytime conditions, this second Friday session was described as an early stage of qualifying by KTM rider Miguel Oliveira – the Portuguese rider pointing to the fact it was likely to prove decisive for who makes it to Q2 automatically on combined practice times.

And indeed, FP1 times were rendered an irrelevance almost right away, with the two works Ducatis of Miller and Francesco Bagnaia instantly lapping several tenths quicker than FP1 pace-setter Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha).

They’d just fitted in their laps before race control got the red flags waving for a smattering of track infrastructure debris on the main straight, which was swiftly cleaned up for the session to resume just around six minutes later.

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And once it did, Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro uncorked a 1m53.789s that left him with a lead of nearly half a second, until first Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and then Bagnaia jumped ahead through fresh soft tyre runs with 10 minutes left on the clock.

As the chequered flag approached and the end-of-session qualifying simulation laps began in earnest, Miller and Pramac rider Johann Zarco popped up either side of Bagnaia, with Miller’s 1m53.387s enough to top the session.

Only Quartararo was able to prevent a Ducati 1-2-3 in the end, popping up to third in the final seconds until the chequered flag flew.

Alex Rins put one Suzuki in the top five behind Zarco, but his team-mate Mir tumbled down the order in the final minutes and was left in 11th place.

With weather and track conditions in FP3 unlikely to be conducive to an improvement, this means Mir is likely to have to contest the first segment of the first qualifying of his title defence.

Maverick Vinales, Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi all joined fellow Yamaha rider Quartararo in the top 10, taking sixth, seventh and ninth respectively.

Espargaro improved late on but was only eighth, while his brother Pol – Honda’s new signing – made up the top 10 but suffered his second crash of the day with a fast crash at Turn 15 after the chequered flag.

For KTM, its painful form at Losail continued as Brad Binder led the marque’s four representatives in a lowly 16th.

Practice 2 Results