Ducati rider Jack Miller headed the second MotoGP Friday practice session at Aragon, as pre-weekend favourite Marc Marquez suffered a crash.
Opening practice pace-setter Marquez fell within the first 10 minutes of FP2, following his brother on the long back straight but having to brake hard and take the wide line through Turn 16 to avoid a collision, which caused him to fold the front on his Honda.
He was visibly enraged by the crash, ‘rage-hopping’ across the track as his bike came to a rest in the run-off, its seat unit ripped off.
Narrowly avoiding contact with his brother! 💥
This was what happened to @marcmarquez93! 👀#AragonGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/Jmo7hFp6aD
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 10, 2021
Marquez had been on course to lead the session when he fell, and it was fellow Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami who topped the timesheets in his absence, leading until a last-gasp flurry of improvements on fresh rubber.
Miller ultimately emerged as the fastest, posting a weekend-best 1m47.613s, and was joined in the top three by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Yamaha stand-in Cal Crutchlow.
Ducati trio Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia – who crashed shortly after Marquez did – all improved as the chequered flag flew to make up the top six, relegating Yamaha’s points leader Fabio Quartararo to seventh and former session leader Nakagami to eighth.
Eventful start to FP2 this afternoon! 😱@PeccoBagnaia has also taken a tumble! 💢#AragonGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/70EoeNtWLP
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 10, 2021
Aprilia’s debutant Maverick Vinales was 19th again, but this time only 1.142s off the pace – and having had a narrowly faster lap deleted for a track limits infringement.
Marquez ended up only 20th, having opted to run used tyres in the final minutes of the session, with his FP1 time still good enough to maintain a provisional Q2 spot for now.
Practice 2 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Miller | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 1m47.613s | ||
| 2 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.273s | +0.273s | 1m47.886s |
| 3 | Cal Crutchlow | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.011s | +0.284s | 1m47.897s |
| 4 | Johann Zarco | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.091s | +0.375s | 1m47.988s |
| 5 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.035s | +0.41s | 1m48.023s |
| 6 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.009s | +0.419s | 1m48.032s |
| 7 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.002s | +0.421s | 1m48.034s |
| 8 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | +0.023s | +0.444s | 1m48.057s |
| 9 | Enea Bastianini | Avintia Esponsorama Racing | Ducati | +0.029s | +0.473s | 1m48.086s |
| 10 | Pol Espargaró | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.08s | +0.553s | 1m48.166s |
| 11 | Alex Rins | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.101s | +0.654s | 1m48.267s |
| 12 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.011s | +0.665s | 1m48.278s |
| 13 | Alex Marquez | LCR Honda Castrol | Honda | +0.036s | +0.701s | 1m48.314s |
| 14 | Danilo Petrucci | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.037s | +0.738s | 1m48.351s |
| 15 | Luca Marini | SKY VR46 Avintia Team | Ducati | +0.105s | +0.843s | 1m48.456s |
| 16 | Iker Lecuona | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.07s | +0.913s | 1m48.526s |
| 17 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.097s | +1.01s | 1m48.623s |
| 18 | Valentino Rossi | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.026s | +1.036s | 1m48.649s |
| 19 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.106s | +1.142s | 1m48.755s |
| 20 | Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.072s | +1.214s | 1m48.827s |
| 21 | Joan Mir | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.059s | +1.273s | 1m48.886s |
| 22 | Jake Dixon | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +1.101s | +2.374s | 1m49.987s |
