Vinales bolts clear of rivals at Phillip Island

Full Australian MotoGP FP2 results at Phillip Island

Maverick Vinales has laid down the marker to beat for Monster Yamaha by topping both practice sessions on Friday at Phillip Island, as Fabio Quartararo sat out FP2 following his morning fall.

Vinales bolts clear of rivals at Phillip Island

Full Australian MotoGP FP2 results at Phillip Island

Maverick Vinales has laid down the marker to beat for Monster Yamaha by topping both practice sessions on Friday at Phillip Island, as Fabio Quartararo sat out FP2 following his morning fall.

After Vinales traded fastest lap times with Marc Marquez during the initial runs of the first dry session of the weekend, having seen FP1 hit by heavy rain this morning, local favourite Jack Miller also kept in close contention.

With all riders using fresh soft tyres for late time attacks, Vinales duly retained top spot with a 1m 28.824s to dominate FP2 across both the hard and soft Michelin tyres.

Marquez had been set to challenge his fellow countryman for the best time overall but on his final lap he was held up by Repsol Honda team-mate Jorge Lorenzo on the racing line around the final two corners.

That saw Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso surge up to second place ahead of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, while it was a positive day all round for Ducati with Danilo Petrucci fourth and Miller in fifth.

Fabio Quartararo sat out FP2 following his heavy high-side suffered in the closing minutes of the morning practice session. The Petronas Yamaha rider underwent medical scans and checks which showed no breaks, having gone down badly on his lower left leg, but required painkillers with his fitness monitored after being declared fit enough to continue for the rest of the Australian MotoGP weekend.

Having seen his final lap wrecked by Lorenzo, Marquez had to settle for sixth place just ahead of Monster Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi.

Suzuki’s Alex Rins edged into the top 10 along with Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha and Aprilia’s Aleix Esparagaro.

Joan Mir narrowly missed out in 11th place for Suzuki ahead of an impressive Friday for Karel Abraham on the Avintia Ducati after the Czech Republic rider was also inside the top 15 in the wet FP1.

With Andrea Iannone in 13th place for Aprilia, Francesco Bagnaia’s FP2 was prematurely halted by an out-lap off at Turn 2 for Pramac Ducati inside the final five minutes of the session.

Johann Zarco claimed a top-15 time at the end of his debut day for LCR Honda standing in for Takaaki Nakagami who requires surgery on a right shoulder injury which has ruled him out of the rest of the season.

Zarco duly beat Repsol Honda’s Lorenzo, while Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro was another late faller in FP2 as he low-sided off at Turn 8.

With Mika Kallio in 18th place on the sister factory KTM, he did beat Tech3 KTM duo Hafizh Syahrin and Miguel Oliveira as Tito Rabat completed the timesheet for Avintia Ducati.

A 20-minute Michelin tyre test completes Friday’s track action as the French tyre manufacturer assess future compound options.

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