Espana MotoGP Free Practice Results 2

Raul Fernandez of Tech3 KTM Factory Racing has been declared unfit for the Red Bull Spanish Grand Prix after failing to recover from a right hand injury sustained last weekend in Portimao. Due to an injury sustained during Q1 at the Portuguese Grand Prix, the Spaniard was forced to withdraw from Round 5 of the MotoGPTM World Championship on Sunday.

Fabio Quartararo builds on his triumph in Portimao by leading Free Practice 2 for the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez, a session in which Marc Marquez fell twice in a row on his way to 19th. Joan Mir and Alex Rins of Suzuki had been first and second in FP1, but Francesco Bagnaia beat their best morning laps inside the first few minutes of the afternoon. Quartararo, the Portimao winner and new joint title leader (with Rins) this morning, quickly pushed his Yamaha at the front of the field following a severe last turn spill on his way to fourth.

Mir and Aleix Espargaro were the next riders to appear in P1 just before the halfway point, with the Aprilia rider leading until Takaaki Nakagami put a new soft rear on his LCR Honda and pushed ahead by 0.1s with 7 minutes remaining. With new soft rubber, others followed suit, putting Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Quartararo, and Enea Bastianini ahead of Nakagami. On his penultimate lap, Quartararo set a time of 1m 37.071s, with Gresini Ducati’s former title leader Bastianini best of the rest (+0.2s), just ahead of Bagnaia. Marquez’s day was made much worse when he lost the front end of his Honda at the slow Turn 6 hairpin, which is now named after former teammate Pedrosa.

Marquez’s crashes today were his second and third after returning from COTA’s diplopia. On his way to a poor 19th (+1.1s) on soft rubber, the Repsol Honda driver received another visual ‘hurry up’ from Pol’s older brother Aleix. Raul Fernandez of Tech3 KTM has been deemed unfit after being ruled out of last Sunday’s Portimao round owing to a right-hand injury sustained during qualifying. This weekend, factory test riders Stefan Bradl (Honda) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) will compete in the wild-card round. After Aleix Espargaro’s third position in Portimao, Aprilia will forfeit technical allowances if the RS-GP finishes on the podium again. Last season, Quartararo appeared to be on his way to a comfortable victory in Jerez, only to fall from contention. Last year, Franco Morbidelli finished third on the podium.