LIVE MotoGP Brno FP2: Quartararo on the forceps… in front of Morbidelli, Oliveira and Zarco!

This article will be updated continuously until 14:55 p.m.

Strange session this morning, for practice for the Czech Republic Grand Prix, in which none of the favorites for Sunday showed up.

In the absence of Marc Márquez, we expected to see at the forefront a fabio quartararo in full rise, a Maverick Vinales always on fire, one Andrea Dovizioso never very far and taking advantage of the power of his Ducati, a Pol Espargaro always valiant who resists as best he can the first steps of his fiery teammate, a Franco Morbidelli betrayed by its mechanics in Andalusia, or even a Valentino Rossi invigorated by a few more personal settings on his M1, or a Francis Bagnaia unlucky in Jerez!

But no, it's a Takaaki Nakagami, very lively in the absence of spearhead Honda, who won in front Joan mir, Pol I will espargaro, And a John Zarco taking the KTM torch while reminding everyone that he was on the front line right here last year.

In the end, on a route with a degraded surface whose record dates from 2016, Takaaki Nakagami, Joan Mir, Pol Espargaró, Johann Zarco, Maverick Vinales, Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci, Valentino Rossi, Franco Morbidelli and Cal Crutchlow currently make up the top 10 while Fabio Quartararo, who declared yesterday at a press conference that he only wanted to work on his racing pace, appears in 13th position and seems, like the Doctor, to suffer from a lack of grip.

Bad luck seems to continue Francesco Bagnaia who may have injured his right leg during a morning fall from which he nevertheless got up immediately. To be confirmed, what the Pramac pilot does on his way to the hospital. A priori, he will not ride this afternoon.

Temperatures are 31° in the air and 45° on the ground at the start of this second 45-minute session in Brno, which should logically see many changes at the top of the standings.

Here are the available references:

Brno MotoGP™	2019	2020
FP1	1'56.919 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)	1'57.353 Takaaki Nakagami (see here)
FP2	1'55.802 Fabio Quartararo (see here)	1'56.502 Fabio Quartararo (see here)
FP3	2'04.279 Marc Márquez (see here)
FP4	2'03.779 Marc Márquez (see here)
Q1	2'05.033 Johann Zarco (see here)
Q2	2'02.753 Marc Márquez (see here)
warm up	1'57.052 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)
Course	Marquez, Dovizioso, Miller (see here)
All time lap record	1'54.596 Marc Márquez (2016)

Like this morning, Franco Morbidelli is the first to hit the track, under a sky that is starting to cloud over slightly.

Most riders abandoned the medium rear tire in favor of a harder compound, with the exception ofAlex Rins and Bradley Smith who show up with a software on their motorcycle.

Danilo Petrucci, in 1'57.925, precedes fabio quartararo at the end of the first flying lap, but the Frenchman improved his time on the next pass to 1'57.564.

Alex Marquez seems to have technical problems with his Honda which is parked on the side of the track. He runs back to his box on foot.

Meanwhile, Joan mir takes command in 1'57.445.

Many of them improve the best time in the first sector but lose time in the others. At the end of the first run, we find Joan mir a tenth ahead Fabio Quartararo, Pol Marquez and Franco Morbidelli, three tenths ahead Miguel Oliveira, Andrea Dovizioso and Aleix Márquez, and four tenths ahead Takaaki Nakagami, Cal Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci.

Johann zarco is then 12th, Maverick Vinales 15th and Valentino Rossi 18e.

On resumption, Alex Marquez, riding his second motorcycle, is positioned in 13th place while Jack Miller enters the top 10 of the session (but not combined).

Midway through the session, Alex Rins places his GSX–RR in sixth position, but it is Maverick Vinales who sets things right by placing his M1 on the third line in the standings.

Valentino Rossi includes a top 10 included in just 3 tenths.

The track seems to have little grip, no doubt in part because of the complete washing it underwent at the start of the week, and the times are a far cry from those of last year's FP2...

We noted little improvement at this point in the session…

fabio quartararo gets angry, like many riders who improve in the first sector before seeing their bike sway in the following ones.

However, Franco Morbidelli manages to overcome this sort of curse by switching to a soft rear tire, and then takes the lead in 1'56.509.

Brad Binder also progressed and placed his RC16 in sixth position, just ahead of that of Miguel Oliveira.

There are five minutes left when most of the drivers attack with a soft tire, which allows Pol Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami to position themselves in second and third place.

During this time, we worked on the rear suspension of the Yamaha fabio quartararo and El Diablo will only have one turn to perform his performance.

But it's another French pilot, John Zarco, who impresses by positioning his Ducati in third place, just behind a Miguel Oliveira just as surprising!

The gaps are so tight that Fabio Quartararo dropped back to 13th position when he began his only timed lap. But the Niçois gave everything and took provisional pole position in 1'56.502, seven thousandths ahead of his teammate!

Meanwhile, the bad news is confirmed: Pecco Bagnaia fractured his tibia. He will be operated on tomorrow in Italy.

See you this evening for the debriefings (we will try to do Fabio and Johann but the debriefings risk overlapping) and tomorrow at 9:55 a.m. for MotoGP FP3!

MotoGP Czech Republic Grand Prix FP2 standings:

MotoGP Czech Republic Grand Prix FP1/FP2 standings:

Credit rankings: MotoGP.com