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MotoGP Indonesian GP: Bastianini on record pace as Ducati proves dominant in second practice

Enea Bastianini picked up from where he left off in Misano less than a week ago as he topped the timesheets in Mandalika during Friday Practice for the Indonesian Grand Prix courtesy of a scintillating new lap record with just under ten minutes of the session remaining.

With the Italian heading up a Ducati 1-2-3-4-5, though the Italian manufacturer would dominate FP2 by successfully annexing seven of the available direct-to-Q2 spots, the scant 0.370s margin covering the top ten was indicative of the fine margins between the pacesetters.

It initially appeared Jorge Martin would be destined for Friday’s bragging rights after setting a mighty benchmark of 1m 29.670s with almost 15 minutes of the session to go, already almost three-tenths under Luca Marini’s erstwhile lap record.

However, after chipping away at his Ducati stablemate’s advantage, Bastianini surged to the summit of the leaderboard with an unmatched 1m 29.630s lap with eight minutes on the clock remaining.

Ensuring a 1-2 at the flag for the Misano sparring partners, Bastianini and Martin were chased by Franco Morbidelli in third place - the Italian, who set the pace in FP1, consolidating a strong opening day for both himself and the Pramac Ducati team to finish less than a tenth off the top.

Having spent much of the FP1 session putting in the slog of fine-tuning his race set-up, Pecco Bagnaia spared some blushes with a late ascent from outside the top ten to an eventual fourth, while Marco Bezzecchi also left it until the final seconds to see out of the top five.

Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)


Fabio Quartararo ended the day as the highest-placed non-Ducati in sixth, the Frenchman once more demonstrating glimmers of hope that Yamaha is edging back towards competitive form by comfortably booking his place in Q2.

Despite having to deploy one of his signature saves during a near-low side early on in the session, Marc Marquez recovered to seventh, while Pedro Acosta and Fabio di Giannantonio in eighth and ninth also made it safely through to Q2 despite each enduring a tip-off during the session.

Completing the top ten, Maverick Vinales nabbed the tenth and final direct Q2 slot, the Spaniard denying an unfortunate Johann Zarco, who was within a tenth of earning LCR and Honda a rare trip to the latter stages of qualifying.

Regardless, the Japanese manufacturer - yet to achieve a top 10 race result in 2024 - will head into Saturday feeling optimistic after Marini complimented his fellow RC213V rider by ending the day in 12th.

Alex Rins was 13th as Yamaha out-performed KTM, the Austrian firm’s factory representatives looking at sea as Brad Binder - who suffered a fall at Turn 10 - and Jack Miller languished down in 14th and 16th.

Between them, Aleix Espargaro was twice a faller at Turn 16 en route to 15th, while Alex Marquez was also left to rue a crash at the same spot in the final minutes, scuppering a lap that was likely to haul him into the top ten but instead left him 21st and last.

Meanwhile, Miguel Oliveira will play no further part in this weekend’s event after being diagnosed with a fractured wrist in the wake of his high-side at Turn 4 during FP1. The injury means the Trackhouse Aprilia rider will miss next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi too.

MotoGP Indonesian GP - FP2 results

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 25

1'29.630

  173.111  
2 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 25

+0.040

1'29.670

0.040 173.034  
3 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 21

+0.079

1'29.709

0.039 172.959  
4 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 23

+0.082

1'29.712

0.003 172.953  
5 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 28

+0.140

1'29.770

0.058 172.841  
6 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 29

+0.214

1'29.844

0.074 172.699  
7 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 27

+0.255

1'29.885

0.041 172.620  
8 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 20

+0.331

1'29.961

0.076 172.474  
9 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 24

+0.356

1'29.986

0.025 172.426  
10 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 26

+0.370

1'30.000

0.014 172.400  
11 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 26

+0.456

1'30.086

0.086 172.235  
12 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 26

+0.466

1'30.096

0.010 172.216  
13 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 27

+0.559

1'30.189

0.093 172.038  
14 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 26

+0.573

1'30.203

0.014 172.012  
15 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 25

+0.675

1'30.305

0.102 171.817  
16 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 27

+0.781

1'30.411

0.106 171.616  
17 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 26

+0.813

1'30.443

0.032 171.555  
18 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 26

+0.977

1'30.607

0.164 171.245  
19 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 25

+1.162

1'30.792

0.185 170.896  
20 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 25

+1.265

1'30.895

0.103 170.702  
21 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 21

+1.368

1'30.998

0.103 170.509  
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