Binder bounces to top of tight FP2, 0.071s covers top five

2020 Emilia Romagna MotoGP - Free Practice Results (2)

Brad Binder emerged as the surprise pace setter at the end of second free practice for the 2020 Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano as a meagre 0.071s covered the top five riders in an incredibly tight afternoon session.

The Czech MotoGP race winner has retained a somewhat low key presence at Misano over the past few days as KTM struggled for form in the preceding San Marino MotoGP, but a productive mid-week test appears to have done wonders for the South African.

Stopping the clock 1m 31.628secs, Binder headed up a remarkably tight group of riders that will make tomorrow’s crucial Q2-deciding FP3 session even more critical than usual. All top five riders from FP2 set times quick enough to fill the combined top five timesheets.#

Another rider to show considerably more encouraging performance than he did a week ago, Takaaki Nakagami was a just 0.002s shy of the top spot to bring some joy to Honda on a day when its effort was whittled down to just 2 riders when Stefan Bradl joined Cal Crutchlow and Marc Marquez on the injury sidelines.

Fabio Quartararo could blame a wobble into the final corner for losing his overnight advantage by just 0.016secs in third, while Yamaha counterpart Maverick Vinales was himself just three hundredths back in fourth.

Pol Espargaro was third quickest on the second of the factory KTMs, though didn’t help his cause when he suffered a fast crash early on in the session. Though he recovered to challenge the top spot late on, it marks another costly tumble after two crashes last weekend.

Danilo Petrucci gave himself a boost with a late rise to fifth overall, just ahead of Miguel Oliveira, while Johann Zarco shrugged off two separate crashes during FP2 to rack up the eighth fastest time, from San Marino MotoGP podium winners Joan Mir and Pecco Bagnaia in ninth and tenth.

In terms of the Combined timesheets though, Franco Morbidelli remains on course for Q2 in sixth overall by relying on his FP1 effort, ahead of Mir, Oliveira, Petrucci and Zarco.

It means Bagnaia will need to improve on Saturday morning to ensure he starts towards the front of the grid, as will Andrea Dovizioso who was down the order on the FP2 timesheets but 12th overall.

Similarly, Valentino Rossi was further back than expected but seemingly preferring to leave his time attack for Saturday morning’s FP3 session. He is 15th overnight, just ahead of Jack Miller in 16th, while Alex Rins is down in 18th.