Johann Zarco on top at the Red Bull Ring as Ducati flex their muscles

Ducati continued their stunning show of pace at the Red Bull Ring as Johann Zarco led Jack Miller and Jorge Martin in MotoGP FP2.
Johann Zarco, Ducati MotoGP Red Bull Ring
Johann Zarco, Ducati MotoGP Red Bull Ring

With conditions much improved for the start of FP2, Miller, who was fastest in FP1 wasted no time in beating his personal best time.

Only 16th on combined times after FP1, Bagnaia shot up the leaderboard and joined his team-mate inside the top three - Alex Rins managed to split the two factory Ducati riders. 

However, Bagnaia wasn’t third for long as he went two tenths quicker than Miller’s previous best of 1:31.756s.

Bagnaia’s effort was then beaten by Rins, who went exactly two tenths clear of the Italian rider before Quartararo closed to within +0.005s of the soon-to-be LCR Honda rider. 

Like in FP1 Aleix Espargaro was seen running wide during the early stages of FP2 at the new chicane. 

While team-mate Maverick Vinales moved up to sixth, Espargaro was last and struggling to find his rhythm.

Vinales was next in struggling to stop his RS-GP22 machine as he ran off-track at turn four, the second time that’s happened today. 

Although he was struggling to remain inside track limits at turn one, Quartararo narrowly moved clear of Rins at the top of the leaderboard. 

Looking extremely quick on his latest run, Bagnaia’s momentum was briefly halted after becoming the next rider to run wide at the new chicane. 

As FP2 approached the final 15 minutes of action, Espargaro began making progress as he moved up to 11th place.

With the usual time attack runs set to take place, Espargaro exited pit lane with a brand new soft rear tyre, only for rain to start falling at the Red Bull Ring. 

While rain flags continued to be deployed throughout the final ten minutes, the very light rain did little to dampen the on-track action as Espargaro immediately went quicker. 

The Aprilia rider went sixth fastest moments before Miguel Oliveira crashed at the penultimate corner.  

Raul Fernandez made it back-to-back falls for KTM riders after losing control of his RC16 at the new chicane. 

But on-track it was quickly turning into the Ducati-show as Zarco led a series of stunning laps.

Miller then made it a Ducati 1-2 before Martin, Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini and Marco Bezzecchi made it a top six for the Italian manufacturer. 

Quartararo managed to put his Yamaha in fourth position late on, however, signs are there that the Bologna Bullets are going to be very difficult to beat this weekend. 

A late charge from Brad Binder saw Espargaro relegated to 11th and more importantly outside of the automatic Q2 places.

Read More