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Maverick Vinales led a nearly identical 1-2-3 Yamaha block in FP2 as the Iwata maker sent a warning signal to his rivals by reveling in the stormy conditions at Motorland Aragon.
Having prevailed in extremely cold conditions in FP1, Viñales was noticeably faster this time, moving two seconds away from the old benchmark with a 1m 47.771 seconds to overtake his M1 counterparts Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli.
Indeed FP2 could prove to be a critical session for riders as very cold conditions are forecast for tomorrow’s decisive FP3 session in Q2. Although the organizers have delayed it 30 minutes, as they did this morning, the huge time difference between FP1 and FP2 suggests that it will be difficult for riders outside the top ten at this point to get close to the times they would need to guarantee a Q2. Stain.
However, that was of little concern to Viñales, who comfortably dropped the glove on series leader Quartararo by three-tenths of a second, providing a sure reminder that at 19 points off the overall top, he is far from out of this fight. for the title.
Quartararo and Morbidelli rallied from their FP1 crashes to look confident in second and third, no doubt the result added to Valentino Rossi frustration in the wake of his forced absence from COVID-19.
Since cold conditions hampered Suzuki last week, Joan Mir will take fourth place as a very good indication of a competitive weekend, while Cal Crutchlow and Aleix Espargaró brought some smiles to the fields of Honda and Aprilias with a solid fifth and sixth respectively.
Pol Espargaró brought KTM into the mix with the seventh fastest time, while Alex Márquez could be looking at his first Q2 entry of the year with a sure run to eighth, just ahead of Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Rins in the second Suzuki. .
However, the only manufacturer that will be studying the data closely tonight will be Ducati, as none of its six entries made the top ten with Andrea Dovizioso in 13th place, Jack Miller 14th, Danilo Petrucci 15th and Pecco Bagnaia. 16th.
In fact, quite sobering for Ducati will be the fact that both Avintia Ducatis were ahead of the GP20 quartet, with Johann Zarco as their best representative in eleventh place, despite crashing for the second time today, and even Tito Rabat in the twelfth place.
There were fewer drops in FP2 compared to FP1, but Brad Binder hit the cover early on on the troublesome downhill of Turn 14, the South African taking a crash identical to Morbidelli and Zarco in FP1.