Aleix Espargaro on fire as he tops Mugello FP2, Johann Zarco crashes twice!

Second in the MotoGP world championship, Aleix Espargaro looks to be in ominous form after topping FP2 at Mugello. Johann Zarco crashed twice despite finishing fourth.

Robert Jones

27 May 2022

FP2 began with an early off for wildcard rider Michele Pirro as the Italian got his braking all wrong at the final corner. Pirro remained aboard his GP22 machine but not before running into the gravel.

As was the case in FP1, Bagnaia nearly ran off-track at the same at turn one when he got crossed up behind Enea Bastianini, the same rider that forced a mistake out of Bagnaia at Le Mans.

Making a much better start than FP1, Marc Marquez looked more like himself as he immediately jumped into the top ten on combined times.

Marquez went seventh quickest as Nakagami remained the top Honda rider in second place.

Another rider who found pace and therefore moved into the top ten was reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo.

The French rider was still seven tenths off the pace of Zarco, not the type of margin we’re used to seeing Quartararo face. Despite that, Quartararo remained six tenths clear of team-mate Franco Morbidelli [P15].

Fabio Quartararo, Italian MotoGP, 27 May

Next to hit the gravel traps - remaining aboard his MotoGP machine - Pol Espargaro ran off-track at turn one which was proving very difficult to navigate.

At the front, Bagnaia was delivering yet more impressive pace as he churned out several mid 1m 46s laps, the only rider doing so with such consistency.

A red flag was deployed with just under 20 minutes to go as Zarco suffered the first crash of the day [turn four]

The Prima Pramac Racing Ducati rider suffered a front-end washout which led to stones being chucked onto the inside of turn five.

Once FP2 restarted, Bagnaia gave Pirro a scare as he dove to the inside of his fellow Italian on the flip-flop between turns two and three.

There was a second faller soon after the green flag was waved as Rins crashed at the same turn four.

With time attack runs officially underway, Bagnaia was one of the first to significantly improve…

Leading a Ducati quartet, Bagnaia set a stunning time of 1:45.940s to go three tenths clear of Miller.

But after getting a lovely slipstream from team-mate Maverick Vinales, Aleix Espargaro pipped the Lenovo Ducati rider by just +0.049s.

Bagnaia and Espargaro both ran through the gravel [turns one & four] respectively, as did Zarco who suffered his second crash of the session, this time at turn 12.

Takaaki Nakagami comes out swinging in MotoGP Mugello FP1!

Under pressure to retain his Honda seat, Nakagami dominated FP1 after setting a time of 1:46.662s - 0.408s clear of Espargaro and Bagnaia.

Although Nakagami elected to set a time attack, it wasn’t an all out attempt by the LCR Honda rider as he chose to run a new medium rear as opposed to the soft tyre.

In typical 2022 MotoGP fashion, the top four were separated by just +0.030s before Nakagami’s late effort, while Espargaro, Bagnaia and Alex Rins closed out the session within +0.001s of one-another.

Outside of Nakagami, Honda suffered another tough session as Marc Marquez was down in 18th. Equally as disappointing was the performance of KTM, who despite new fairing upgrades, were only 16th and 17th in the hands of Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira.