#CatalanGP MotoGP FP2: Marquez at ease, Vinales in distress

In view of a first session which was reduced to its bare minimum due to the track being neither dry nor wet, everything we talked about this morning remains valid.

For several reasons, therefore, this season is undoubtedly the most open we have seen in a long time. We can see it in the Honda domination at Jerez, Yamaha domination at Le Mans and Ducati domination at Mugello.

These constant changes in hierarchy, mainly induced by Michelin tires in perpetual evolution, today comes a route heavily modified by the addition of a new chicane which makes any attempt to compare times useful.

The final disturbing factor this morning was the heavy rain which fell this morning before the sessions and which was unlikely to improve the precarious grip of this Catalan circuit...

In summary, everyone is still in complete anticipation as to the hierarchy that will be put in place for this Catalan Grand Prix, except that Marc Marquez has already achieved the new benchmark for the new route this morning in 1'45.857, to compare with the record set last year by himself last year, in 1'43.589 .

At the start of this second MotoGP session of the weekend, the track is already at 46° and the air at 30°.

After two flying laps, Marc Márquez (hard/medium) is regaining roughly the pace he had obtained this morning at the end of the session, but it is Andrea Dovizioso (medium/medium) which immediately lowers the provisional reference to 1'45.820 then 1'45.254.

Marc Márquez does not intend to stop there and achieves a 1'45.159, which propels the two men 7 tenths ahead of the rest of the contenders led by Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone.

At the end of the first run, the hierarchy is composed of: Marquez, Dovizioso, Espargaro, Iannone, Crutchlow, Pedrosa, Rossi, Lorenzo, Petrucci and Redding, all roughly in the same second.

At this moment, Johann zarco is 13th, Loris Baz 18th and Sylvain Guintoli 19e.

On resumption, Esteve Rabat gets stuck in the wheel Jorge Lorenzo and while he is positioned third, the driver Marc VDS, who now seems to be using this trick, is positioned 4th provisionally. During this time, Alvaro Bautista fall without gravity twice in the new chicane (yes, it's possible!), followed a few minutes later by Hector Barbera at turn #10 also modified.

Before the final rush, the Top 10 of the ranking is as follows: Marquez, Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Rabat, Vinales, Espargaro, Iannone, Crutchlow, Pedrosa et Red. Johann zarco demoted to 16th position, Loris Baz in the 19th and Sylvain Guintoli in 22st.

After this fall, Alvaro Bautista (medium/soft) takes the bull by the horns and achieves provisional pole position in 1'45.116. It precedes Dani Pedrosa (hard/soft) while Loris Baz (tender/tender) also made a very good comeback, taking eighth place.

Cal Crutchlow fell without gravity, losing the front at turn #5 and seriously damaged his bike.

The last two minutes see everything first Jorge Lorenzo to stand in front Jonas Folger in 1'44.700, but Marc Márquez, omnipresent today, responds with a 1'44.478.

At the end of this session, the 10 drivers pre-qualified for Q2 are: Marquez, Lorenzo, Folger, Dovizioso, Petrucci, Rabat, Zarco, Pedrosa, Bautista et Red.

For the moment, the big losers are Maverick Vinales et Cal Crutchlow.

Ranking compiled by our friends at crash.net :

1. =Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 44.295s [Lap 20/20] 342km/h (Top Speed)
2. ^11 Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 44.700s +0.405s [17/19] 343km/h
3. ^2 Jonas Folger GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 1m 44.839s +0.544s [16/18] 337km/h
4. ˅1 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 44.883s +0.588s [15/16] 343km/h
5. ^5 Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP17) 1m 44.890s +0.595s [17/18] 340km/h
6. ^16 Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 44.922s +0.627s [16/17] 339km/h
7. ^4 Johann Zarco ENG Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 1m 45.063s +0.768s [16/17] 337km/h
8. ˅4 Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 45.098s +0.803s [16/18] 338km/h
9. ˅1 Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 45.116s +0.821s [16/20] 344km/h
10. ^7 Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 45.118s +0.823s [17/17] 337km/h
11. ^10 Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 45.311s +1.016s [14/15] 341km/h
12. ˅3 Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 1m 45.375s +1.080s [16/17] 341km/h
13. ^1 Andrea Iannone ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 45.465s +1.170s [17/18] 341km/h
14. ^6 Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 45.554s +1.259s [15/15] 339km/h
15. ^8 Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 45.755s +1.460s [14/17] 337km/h
16. ˅10 Maverick Vinales ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 45.810s +1.515s [11/17] 337km/h
17. ˅5 Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 45.868s +1.573s [18/18] 337km/h
18. ˅2 Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP15) 1m 45.932s +1.637s [18/20] 339km/h
19. ˅17 Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m 45.967s +1.672s [3/14] 336km/h
20. ˅13 Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 1m 46.682s +2.387s [4/16] 334km/h
21. ˅6 Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 1m 46.946s +2.651s [11/15] 336km/h
22. ˅4 Sylvain Guintoli FRA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 47.002s +2.707s [3/19] 340km/h
23. ˅4Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 1m 47.892s +3.597s [16/18] 334km/h