Nakagami tops second MotoGP Jerez practice

LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami topped the second practice session for MotoGP’s Andalucian Grand Prix at Jerez, ahead of Johann Zarco and Pol Espargaro.

Nakagami’s FP2 benchmark was over six tenths off what Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales managed in the morning’s practice.

The afternoon session was punctuated by two riders crashing almost immediately after setting the fastest lap. First, Avintia Ducati rider Zarco stormed to the top early on, only to fall at the Turn 6 right-hander.

Some 20 minutes later, Zarco was at the back of a queue of slow bikes that seemed to catch out KTM man Espargaro at Turn 2, his ex-team-mate crashing moments after snatching the top spot from Fabio Quartararo with a 1m37.889s – the first sub-1m38s effort of FP2.

He remained alone in that laptime range until the closing minutes, when Zarco lapped within six hundredths of the KTM man’s benchmark.

He then jumped ahead of Espargaro with his next attempt, only to be immediately deposed by a 1m37.836s from Nakagami – which was followed by an improved 1m37.715s from the Japanese rider at the chequered flag.

This left him a tenth and a half clear of Zarco, with Espargaro, Franco Morbidelli and Vinales making up the top five.

Quartararo was only sixth and ends the day outside of the combined classification top 10, a place in which guarantees a Q2 spot.

However, the Frenchman – who claimed his maiden MotoGP win last weekend at Jerez – spent the entire session on the medium rear, and seemingly did not push for a single laptime.

Aside from Zarco and Espargaro, there were crashes for Tech 3 KTM rider Iker Lecuona – at the same corner as Espargaro – and Zarco’s Avintia team-mate Johann Zarco, at Turn 13.

Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins – two riders who were passed fit despite sustaining fractures to the scaphoid and collarbone respectively last weekend – were closer to the pace this time than in FP1, coming up 1.1s and 1.4s short respectively.

As anticipated, Marc Marquez did not ride on Friday. His brother and fellow factory Honda rider Alex Marquez was 18th-fastest.

Practice 2 Results