What went on in second Valencia MotoGP practice

Ducati MotoGP rider Jack Miller topped the second practice session ahead of the 2021 season’s Valencia finale.

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Key moments:

> Three Ducatis in the top five

> Espargaro competitive for Honda despite crash

> Champion Quartararo also falls

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With the track dry, the laptimes from the rain-hit morning session were immediately rendered irrelevant for the purposes of the combined classification – as riders lapped some eight seconds faster.

Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli, still in the process of recovering from his mid-season knee surgery, entered the final minutes of FP2 at the top of the timesheets – but elected not to do a late push lap on a fresh rear soft and was shuffled well down the order, t0 13th pace.

And as the Ducati works duo of Miller and Francesco Bagnaia took turns in the lead, along with Honda’s Pol Espargaro, Miller ultimately prevailed by 0.012s.

Espargaro had a late attempt to get back ahead but fell at Turn 6, settling for second, with Bagnaia just half a tenth down in third place.

It was another three and a half tenths down to the next-fastest rider, Suzuki’s Alex Rins – with team-mate Joan Mir in seventh and the pair split by Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.

Brad Binder was the lead KTM in eighth, while Andrea Dovizioso impressed as the lead Yamaha in ninth, a tenth and two places up on Fabio Quartararo.

The track might be dry, but grip is still low! 😲@FabioQ20 is caught out by the cool temperatures! 💢#ValenciaGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/W7dTy5spsk

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 12, 2021

The 2021 champion had a crash at Turn 2 – which caught out Bagnaia in first practice and would also feature an Enea Bastianini fall in FP2 – and generally never seemed too close to the front of the timing screens.

The only other faller was Tech3 KTM’s Iker Lecuona, going down at Turn 11.

Valentino Rossi, who will bid farewell to MotoGP this weekend, completed the order, 1.358s off the pace.

Practice 2 Results