Iannone leads Petrucci in tight FP2

Full FP2 results from Australia MotoGP at Phillip Island

Andrea Iannone heads up Friday practice at Phillip Island for Suzuki ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci in a fiercely competitive second practice.

The Italian rider bolted to the top of the times using fresh front and rear soft tyres while also gaining a tow off FP1’s fastest rider Maverick Vinales to see the Suzuki rider produce a 1m 29.131s.

With a tight fight for top spot expected at the Australian circuit, Petrucci was able to split Iannone and Vinales to take second spot with the Movistar Yamaha having provisionally gone quickest before being beaten by Iannone’s last-lap effort.

Andrea Dovizioso, who suffered for pace 12 months ago at Phillip Island, kept in close contention in fourth place for Ducati ahead of Cal Crutchlow who missed the final 14 minutes of FP2 following a fast crash at Turn 1. The LCR Honda rider was taken to the medical centre for assessment with his best lap keeping him fifth fastest.

Johann Zarco’s late improvement on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 saw him surge to sixth place at a circuit all Yamahas look in shape.

Newly-crowned 2018 MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez endured an eventful Friday practice following a crash in FP1, when he suffered another off-track moment after his rear slid away from him at Turn 6 before regaining control of his Repsol Honda and running off track to a halt.

Marquez recovered to take sixth place in the FP2 times ahead of local star Jack Miller on the Pramac Ducati and Suzuki’s Alex Rins.

Valentino Rossi, who also had a brief off-track moment at Turn 6 like Marquez, held on to the final provisional Q2 spot on the factory Yamaha in 10^th just over one second behind Iannone’s timesheet leading effort.

It meant Tech 3’s Hafizh Syahrin narrowly missed out on the top ten but kept ahead of the Red Bull KTM duo of Bradley Smith (11^th) and Pol Espargaro (13^th) who were split by Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.

Jorge Lorenzo’s stand-in Alvaro Buatista endured a tricky debut day on the Ducati GP18 following a sensor issue which cut short his FP1 running before he crashed out of second practice early on meaning he missed the bulk of the session with no working spare bike. It left the Spanish rider in 14^th but ahead of Aleix Espargaro running experimental Aprilia parts on his RS-GP.