MotoGP Japan FP2 LIVE: Francesco Bagnia just ahead of Pedro Acosta. Big crash for Johann Zarco

 At the end of the Japanese Grand Prix Practice MotoGP On the Twin Ring of Motegi, the first seven are separated by only 0.318s, and if we add that Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) allowed South Africa to take the first day's honours in Japan, 0,033 sec from. Alex this weekend the month of September of 10 to estimate them this discern is wave in front of Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), this first atypical act alone is enough to justify the impatience that we have to discover the rest of the piece… 

A piece in which the Sprint specialist and championship leader, George Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), is only 0,099 seconds behind in third place, but where the reigning champion (although at the forefront until then) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) had to settle for seventh place, behind a brilliant Peter Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) for his first visit to Motegi on a premier class thoroughbred, a Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) crashing at turn 13 with just over 30 minutes remaining in the session before setting his fastest time, and a Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) very present on Friday.

Unfortunately, our representatives, fabio quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) 14th and Johann zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) 17th, not in a top 10 completed by Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), Fabio di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team).

Like yesterday, it rained last night, but this time the Moto3s did their entire session on wet ground, while a few Moto2 riders tried slicks a few minutes before the end of the Moto2 session, even though sector 3 remains wet. What will happen in MotoGP?

While waiting to discover more, as the 23 drivers prepare for this last 30-minute free practice session, under a still grey sky but with morning temperatures of 20° in the air and 23° on the ground, let's enjoy these few moments of live coverage thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

MotoGP™ Japan, Motegi	2023	2024
FP1	1'45.192 Jorge Martin (See here)	1'45.209 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Practice	1'43.489 Brad Binder (See here)	1'43.436 Brad Binder (See here)
FP2	1'44.622 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'44.569 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Q1	1'43.997 Marc Marquez (See here)	(See here)
Q2	1'43.198 Jorge Martin (See here)	(See here)
Sprint	Martin, Binder, Bagnaia (See here)	(See here)
Warm Up	1'46.047 Jack Miller (See here)	(See here)
Course	Martin, Bagnaia, M. Marquez (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	1'43.198 Jorge Martin (See here)

When the red lights go out... Marco Bezzecchi rushes first in front Franco Morbidelli and we immediately notice that the drivers are on slicks.

George Martin takes the lead after the first flying lap, in 1'47.777 ahead of Francesco Bagnaia, Maverick Vinales, Raul Fernandez and Joan Mir.

After this first reconnaissance round, everyone lights up sectors in red, and this time it is Jack Miller who finds himself at the top of the table, 1'46.317 ahead of Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Augusto Fernandez and Joan Mir.

In the next passage, the Australian who loves these conditions cannot, however, contain Francis Bagnaia in 1'45.510 but regained his advantage on the 5th lap by achieving 1'45.414.

Francis Bagnaia is the first to stop, visibly unhappy, while he currently occupies third position in this session.

Meanwhile Peter Acosta stands out by displaying 1'45.255, but Marc Márquez steals the show in 1'45.230.

A little before the halfway point of the session, when most of the drivers had now returned to their boxes, George Martin takes matters in hand again in 1'45.158.

At this moment, the hierarchy is composed of Jorge Martin, Marc Márquez, Pedro Acosta, Jack Miller, Joan Mir, Francesco Bagnaia, Alex Márquez, Brad Binder, Aleix Espargaro, Franco Morbidelli, Johann Zarco, Fabio Quartararo, Augusto Fernandez, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Luca Marini, Takaaki Nakagami, Enea Bastianini, Aleix Rins, Raul Fernandez, Lorenzo Savadori, Maverick Vinales, Marco Bezzecchi and Remy Gardner.

When the restart came, the annoyance of Francis Bagnaia seems to have had an effect since the Turin native scored 1'44.887 in his first flying lap.

He then improves to 1'44.826, then 1'44.586, with for the moment an advantage of 5/10 on George Martin.

More Peter Acostathen Fabio Di Giannantonio come between the two title contenders, and in the next round, it is numbers 1 and 31 who face each other with red sectors. Finally, neither will improve with three minutes left in the session.

Johann zarco falls violently but without seriousness at turn #6, but is visibly dejected.

On to the qualifications!

MotoGP FP2 standings for the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com

MotoGP Japan FP2

MotoGP Japan FP2