Quartararo leads Misano FP2 as Yamaha, KTM dominate top 10

Fabio Quartararo tops San Marino MotoGP FP2 at Misano to end Friday with the fastest time overall; Yamaha and KTM fill eight of the top nine positions

Ollie Barstow

11 Sep 2020

Fabio Quartararo, San Marino MotoGP, 11 September 2020

2020 San Marino MotoGP - Free Practice Results (2)

Fabio Quartararo led a Petronas SRT Yamaha 1-2 in second free practice for the 2020 San Marino MotoGP at Misano as Yamaha and KTM covered eight of the top ten positions between its entries.

A distant second to Maverick Vinales in FP1, Quartararo struck right back in FP2 with a 1m 32.189secs lap that just undercut his Spanish rival’s best effort of 1m 32.198secs.

With only three riders across the entire field relying on their best lap times from FP1 to keep them up on the combined practice timesheets, Vinales held second overall but it was Franco Morbidelli trailing his team-mate in FP2 itself, just under two tenths adrift.

An encouraging session for both Yamaha and KTM, their four-strong each armada proved difficult to penetrate in FP2, with Pol Espargaro going third quickest on the factory RC16, but only just ahead of the impressive Iker Lecuona on the sister Tech 3 bike, the Spaniard consistently rebounding towards the top of the timesheets during the session before ending up in fourth.

Valentino Rossi and Vinales followed up in fifth and sixth on the factory Yamahas, with Danilo Petrucci emerging as the best of the non-Yamaha/KTM stronghold in seventh on the factory Ducati.

Brad Binder bounced back from a fast crash at Turn 6 to go eighth best, ahead of Styrian MotoGP winner Miguel Oliveira, who left it late to jump into ninth on the FP2 and overall timesheets.

Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top ten as the best of the Aprilias, heading off Andrea Dovizioso, who seemed to still be struggling with electronics issues into FP2 having been forced to sit out part of FP1.

Takaaki Nakagami was the fastest Honda in 12th, from top Suzuki rider Alex Rins, who fared better than team-mate Joan Mir after he ran off on the gravel late on, the Spaniard employing some masterful off-roading skills to get the GSX-RR under control and not crash.

Johann Zarco - who is expected to be confirmed on the factory Ducati for 2021 - was 14th best, while Honda filled three of the final four positions with Cal Crutchlow, Stefan Bradl and Alex Marquez.