Aleix Espargaro rose to the head of the timesheets at the end of FP2 at Mugello to lead Friday running for the Italian Grand Prix ahead of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Having ended up second quickest in FP1 on Friday morning, the Spaniard once again looked to have the measure of the flowing Mugello venue in the afternoon as he remained firmly fixed within the top ten, though it was Pramac’s Johann Zarco who led the way early on after posting the fastest lap of the weekend – a 1:45.891s.
The session was soon red flagged though after the Frenchman crashed at Turn 4 and deposited gravel all over the racing line at Turn 5, facilitating a quick clean-up operation from the nearby marshals.
With rain potentially on the way on Saturday, the bulk of the field headed out late on after the session was re-started with fresh rubber to try and play themselves into the top ten to try and secure a direct pole shootout spot, Francesco Bagnaia moving to the top of the tree on a 1:45.940s as he led a swarm of Ducati’s on home ground for the brand.
Espargaro would swiftly break up Ducati’s soirée however as he utilised a handy slipstream from Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales to go quickest on a 1:45.891s, a time that would stand strong at the head of the timing pylon until the chequered flag brought the session to a close.
A squadron of Desmosedici’s followed in behind Espargaro with Bagnaia and Jack Miller ending up second and third on the factory entries ahead of Zarco – who suffered another crash at Turn 12 in the closing stages – with the VR46 machine of Luca Marini completing the top five.
Enea Bastianini was sixth overall on his Gresini-run Ducati, with Brad Binder an impressive seventh on by far the highest-placed KTM – team-mate Miguel Oliveira only 15th – the South African just ahead of yet another Ducati piloted by Marco Bezzecchi.
Fabio Quartararo just squeaked into the top ten for Yamaha with the ninth best effort, while Pol Espargaro snatched tenth away from Jorge Martin at the death to round off the leading ten.
Marc Marquez ended up 12th ahead of FP1 leader Takaaki Nakagami, who failed to improve on his earlier effort.
Suzuki struggled throguhout FP2 en-route to the 14th and 18th best efforts for Alex Rins and Joan Mir respectively, with the sister Aprilia of Vinales ending up 17th.
Ducati tester Michele Pirro was 20th on his machine ahead of the other factory Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli and Andrea Dovizioso’s RNF Racing M1’s entry.
Keyword: Espargaro fronts second Mugello practice ahead of Bagnaia