Francesco Bagnaia headed Aleix Espargaro at the end of a wet/dry FP2 session at Assen to keep Ducati at the head of the timesheets as Friday running reached its conclusion.
The test started out wet following the heavy rain that coated the Circuit TT Assen in the morning, the bulk of the riders venturing out on used wet tyres from FP1 as the track began to dry out, though some elected to post a fast effort on new rubber.
Johann Zarco led the way with a 1:39.511s on his wets as Luca Marini became the first to brave the slicks around mid-way through the session, the VR46 rider quickly getting himself up to speed and posting the fastest tours of the weekend as he moved into the 1:37s.
Times would continue to tumble across the final 20 minutes as the field all made the switch to dry tyres, Bagnaia eventually getting the best of the conditions to fire in a 1:33.274s effort to secure Friday honours.
Aprilia’s Espargaro slotted in 0.178s adrift of the factory Ducati pilot thanks to his own late improvement, with series leader Fabio Quartararo completing the top three for Yamaha.
Alex Rins made it four different manufacturers in the top four on his Suzuki GSX-RR, the Spaniard being followed by the sister factory Ducati of Jack Miller.
Joan Mir and KTM’s Brad Binder improved at the death to secure sixth and eighth respectively at the conclusion of Friday, the duo sandwiching Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.
Johann Zarco was ninth on his Pramac Ducati, while the final provisional Q2 berth went the way of Marco Bezzecchi’s VR46 Desmosedici – the rookie crashing at Turn 5 just moments after posting this effort.
With rain potentially making a re-appearance on Saturday, Enea Bastianini as well as LCR Honda duo Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez will have to sweat it overnight as to whether they will get a chance to find further improvement in FP3, the trio ending the day 11th, 12th and 13th overall.
Miguel Oliveira led the way at one point after looking comfortable in slicks in the ever-improving conditions but was eventually shuffled back to 15th on the other factory KTM just ahead of Jorge Martin, with Honda’s Pol Espargaro only 18th having impressed in the wet FP1.
Marini failed to improve much late on and fell all the way to 20th in the final reckoning just ahead of Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori, who is making his fourth wild-card appearance of 2022 at Assen this weekend.
Keyword: Bagnaia keeps Ducati on top at Assen with scratch FP2 time