Aleix Espargaro claimed the top spot in the second practice session leading up to the MotoGP race in Catalunya this weekend. Marc Marquez, on the other hand, failed to qualify for Q2 for the second consecutive race. The 34-year-old rider, who recently announced his retirement at the end of the year, set a new lap record with an impressive time of 1.38.562s.
KTM continued to show its strength since Friday morning, with Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta finishing just 0.073s behind Espargaro. Binder’s performance should boost his confidence after suffering two separate accidents at Turn 2 in the first twenty minutes of the session. His team had to make adjustments to his bike for the final laps.
Francesco Bagnaia secured the fourth position in the final set of laps, closely followed by Jack Miller, Bagnaia’s former teammate at Ducati. Championship leader Jorge Martin finished in sixth place, while Enea Bastianini redeemed himself after a disappointing first practice session, finishing in seventh place ahead of Franco Morbidelli.
Alex Rins secured a spot in Q2 with an impressive lap, claiming ninth place. Maverick Vinales, riding for Aprilia, completed the top ten positions, with the two Aprilia riders separated by less than half a second.
The Gresini Ducati duo, Alex and Marc Marquez, came very close to qualifying for Q2, with Alex suffering a late crash during the final laps. Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse Racing were among Fabio Quartararo in the closing stages, as Quartararo had to rely on his second bike after a crash at the challenging Turn 5.
The difficulties of VR46 continued, with Marco Bezzecchi finishing ahead of his teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio in 16th and 17th places, respectively. Di Giannantonio also suffered two accidents during the session.
Honda once again struggled to keep up with the rest of the pack, as their four riders occupied the last four positions. Johann Zarco finished ahead of his teammate Takaaki Nakagami by over half a second. Joan Mir had the edge over Luca Marini, but the situation for Honda remains bleak despite some updates to the bike.
Guest rider Stefan Bradl had to sit out the second practice session due to a stomach virus.
