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MotoGP, FP2: Marquez and Dovi battle, Aleix celebrates with Aprilia

The Spaniard sets the bar in the second session, Crutchlow 4th, Viñales 5th with a crash, Iannone 7th, Lorenzo 11th ahead of Rossi

MotoGP: FP2: Marquez and Dovi battle, Aleix celebrates with Aprilia

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The sun is shining in the afternoon on Phillip Island, despite the chance of rain that was announced several times in the Victoria region. The FP2 session in the afternoon showcased the qualities of Aleix Espargaró’s Aprilia, setting the bar with a time of 1’29”225, more than a second faster than the time done by Marc Marquez in the morning.

The performance of the RS-GP is undoubtedly encouraging and confirms the growth of the Noale-based manufacturer that has been demonstrated on the track in the recent Aragón and Motegi rounds. This has Aleix looking down from the top, but rivals Marquez and Dovizioso are hot on the Spaniard’s trail. Marc, who even took a gamble with the hard tyre in the final stages, finished with the second best time just five thousandths behind the leader and ahead of the Italian by 92.

In short, the playing field seems to be rather level for what has all the foreshadowing of a challenge between the Honda and Ducati riders and the times confirm as much, with no less than sixteen riders all within one second of each other.

Also in the thick of things was Maverick Viñales (+0.198). In spite of a crash on turn eight, the Yamaha rider is showing signs of life this time, finishing in fifth place behind Cal Crutchlow (+.104) and leaving behind his problems on the wet Misano and Motegi weekends. The opposite is true for Valentino Rossi (+0.752) who lagged more than seven tenths of a second behind the top time, finishing with the twelfth best time behind Jorge Lorenzo (+0.595).

It was definitely not a simple afternoon in the Ducati camp. Besides Dovizioso, Jorge found himself more than half a second behind the leader with a few difficulties cornering, whereas things were even worse for Danilo Petrucci (+1.044), a distant seventeenth with a gap of one second behind Espargaró.  

Getting back to the higher positions, the sixth place time stands out, done by Jack Miller (+0.241) who is just coming back from an injury, while Andrea Iannone did the seventh place time on his Suzuki (+0.379), once again in the top ten ahead of Johann Zarco’s M1. Pedrosa’s Honda finished ninth, 58 thousandths faster than Pol Espargaró’s KTM. Worth a mention is Alvaro Bautista’s crash, but without consequences for the rider. 

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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