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Lewis Duncan

MotoGP Indonesian GP: Quartararo tops FP2 despite bike issue, Marquez 22nd after fast crash

With two further sessions of running in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes ahead of MotoGP FP2, the track was a bit cleaner than it was this morning and lap time gains were instant.

Pramac’s Johann Zarco set the early pace with a 1m33.310s, which was just over a tenth quicker than Pol Espargaro’s FP1 best.

At around the same time, there was an issue for fellow Frenchman and reigning world champion Quartararo as his factory Yamaha cut out at Turn 5.

This served to compound what had already been a tough day for Quartararo, who struggled in 16th in FP1.

Losing 10 minutes while he made his way back to the Yamaha garage for his second bike, Quartararo returned to the circuit on a used soft rear and began to put in some quick lap.

Jumping up to fourth, Quartararo would eventually find his way to the top of the timesheets with a 1m32.570s, taking over from KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.

With weather forecasts uncertain for Saturday, a salvo of flying laps at the end of the session came in at the end of FP2 as the field made their bids for a provisional top 10 to get into Q2 in qualifying.

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Top spot changed hands several times, as both Pramac Ducati riders took turns leading the session towards the end.

But it was Quartararo who emerged fastest of all with a 1m31.608s to pip Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli by 0.030s.

Johann Zarco completed the top three on his 2022-spec Pramac Ducati, with Qatar poleman Jorge Martin trailing him by 0.011s n fourth.

Qatar race winner Enea Bastianini leaped up to fifth late on just before he crashed his Gresini Ducati, with Jack Miller on his factory team GP22 sixth.

Aleix Espargaro was seventh on his Aprilia ahead of factory KTM duo Brad Binder and Oliveira, while Suzuki’s Alex Rins sneaked into 10th at the death with a 1m32.106s.

Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez was left stranded in 22nd on the combined order after suffering a fast front-end crash at the Turn 11 right-hander as he pushed for a lap time.

This, coupled with Bastianini’s crash, led to yellow flags being waved, which seemingly caught out several big hitters.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir was only 20th ahead of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, while FP1 pacesetter Pol Espargaro on the sister factory team Honda was 19th.

Practice for the Indonesian Grand Prix continues on Saturday morning with FP3 at 10:50am local time (2:50am GMT).

Results:

Cla Rider Bike Time Gap km/h
1 France Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1'31.608   169.373
2 Italy Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1'31.638 0.030 169.318
3 France Johann Zarco Ducati 1'31.893 0.285 168.848
4 Spain Jorge Martin Ducati 1'31.904 0.296 168.828
5 Italy Enea Bastianini Ducati 1'31.921 0.313 168.797
6 Australia Jack Miller Ducati 1'31.965 0.357 168.716
7 Spain Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1'32.008 0.400 168.637
8 South Africa Brad Binder KTM 1'32.017 0.409 168.621
9 Portugal Miguel Oliveira KTM 1'32.049 0.441 168.562
10 Spain Alex Rins Suzuki 1'32.106 0.498 168.458
11 Italy Andrea Dovizioso Yamaha 1'32.303 0.695 168.098
12 Japan Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1'32.314 0.706 168.078
13 Spain Maverick Viñales Aprilia 1'32.344 0.736 168.023
14 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 1'32.418 0.810 167.889
15 Italy Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 1'32.471 0.863 167.793
16 Spain Alex Marquez Honda 1'32.554 0.946 167.642
17 Spain Raúl Fernández KTM 1'32.557 0.949 167.637
18 Australia Remy Gardner KTM 1'32.626 1.018 167.512
19 Spain Pol Espargaro Honda 1'32.628 1.020 167.508
20 Spain Joan Mir Suzuki 1'32.641 1.033 167.485
21 Italy Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1'32.845 1.237 167.117
22 Spain Marc Marquez Honda 1'32.847 1.239 167.113
23 South Africa Darryn Binder Yamaha 1'33.014 1.406 166.813
24 Italy Luca Marini Ducati 1'33.223 1.615 166.439
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