MotoGP Australian GP: KTM's Binder tops FP2, Bagnaia into Q1

South African rider Binder left it until the very end of the hour-long session on Friday afternoon to set the quickest lap of the day at the picturesque Phillip Island track, a 1m27.993s.

That was just over two tenths shy of last year's pole record set by Jorge Martin, and enough to beat KTM stablemate Jack Miller by 0.148 seconds.

The top spot changed hands multiple times in the closing 15 minutes of the session as riders equipped soft rear tyres to fight for one of the 10 available automatic spots in Q2.

It looked like Pramac Ducati rider Martin, who topped FP1 in the morning, was on course to sweep the day's sessions when he posted a 1m28.249s to go four tenths clear of the field, but he didn't reckon on late improvements by Maverick Vinales and Binder.

Aprilia rider Vinales went fastest on a 1m28.212s with less than four minutes on the clock, but his time at the top was short-lived as Binder became the only rider to break the 1m28s barrier with his quickest time.

Miller then overhauled Vinales to go second at his home venue, with Martin finally demoted to fourth, 0.279s off the pace.

Pol Espargaro made it three KTMs in the top five aboard his Tech3 Gas Gas-branded bike, ahead of a trio of Ducati riders, Marco Bezzecchi (VR46), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini) and works team rider Enea Bastianini.

Bagging the final two places in Q2 were the second Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro, who briefly went fastest before slipping back in the closing stages, and Martin's Pramac team-mate Johann Zarco.

Bagnaia meanwhile faces the prospect of fighting his way out of Q1 for the second weekend in a row after ending up 11th, albeit almost two tenths slower than Zarco.

Marc Marquez's difficult weekend continued with another crash, as he suffered a low-speed tumble at the same point of the track where he fell in FP1, MG corner.

The Honda rider ended up way down in 16th place, beaten to the honour of being the marque's top representative by Alex Rins, who was a creditable 12th on the LCR machine.

Fabio Quartararo was 17th aboard the best of the Yamahas, with team-mate Franco Morbidelli ending up 22nd and last.

MotoGP Australian Grand Prix - second practice results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

         

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	25	1'27.943		182.081
2	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43		KTM	27	+0.148 1'28.091	0.148	181.775
3	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12		Aprilia	23	+0.269 1'28.212	0.121	181.526
4	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89		Ducati	26	+0.279 1'28.222	0.010	181.505
5	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44		KTM	24	+0.420 1'28.363	0.141	181.216
6	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72		Ducati	27	+0.425 1'28.368	0.005	181.205
7	F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing	49		Ducati	27	+0.509 1'28.452	0.084	181.033
8	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23		Ducati	23	+0.510 1'28.453	0.001	181.031
9	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41		Aprilia	21	+0.513 1'28.456	0.003	181.025
10	J. Zarco Pramac Racing	5		Ducati	25	+0.513 1'28.456	0.000	181.025
11	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1		Ducati	25	+0.699 1'28.642	0.186	180.645
12	A. Rins Team LCR	42		Honda	24	+0.701 1'28.644	0.002	180.641
13	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37		KTM	24	+0.713 1'28.656	0.012	180.617
14	R. Fernández RNF Racing	25		Aprilia	27	+0.716 1'28.659	0.003	180.611
15	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	26	+0.718 1'28.661	0.002	180.607
16	M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team	93		Honda	22	+0.847 1'28.790	0.129	180.344
17	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	27	+0.994 1'28.937	0.147	180.046
18	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36		Honda	23	+1.064 1'29.007	0.070	179.904
19	L. Marini Team VR46	10		Ducati	24	+1.221 1'29.164	0.157	179.588
20	M. Oliveira RNF Racing	88		Aprilia	25	+1.768 1'29.711	0.547	178.493
21	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30		Honda	27	+1.807 1'29.750	0.039	178.415
22	F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing	21		Yamaha	21	+1.965 1'29.908	0.158	178.102
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