Australian MotoGP: Espargaro edges Marquez in second practice

The second 45-minute session of the day was run in sunny conditions, turning the session into a crucial shootout for Q2 slots ahead of an expected shift in the weather on Saturday.

Times quickly dipped under Marquez’s FP1 benchmark, Espargaro jumping to the top at the 10-minute mark with a 1m29.225s.

Remarkably, Espargaro’s early time proved good enough for top spot. Marquez did his best to chase down the Aprilia rider, going second quickest with a 1m29.307s, before finding more time on his final run at the end of the session.

However the Honda rider’s 1m29.230s fell 0.005s short of Espargaro’s best lap.

Title contender Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) was third quickest, and right amongst those to have safeguarded themselves against the changing weather with a 1m29.322s.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) did likewise with his 1m29.329s just 90 seconds from the end of the session.

Maverick Vinales finished fifth, despite a high-speed crash 25 minutes into the session. The Yamaha rider lost the front end heading into Hayshed, forcing a change of leathers and a change of bike for the final 15 minutes.

He didn’t improve in the final scramble, but his 1m29.423s was still good enough to leave him with a provisional spot in Q2.

Jack Miller (Marc VDS Honda) continued his impressive day on home soil, going sixth quickest with a 1m29.466s. Suzuki's Andrea Iannone was next, ahead of Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha) and the second works Honda of Dani Pedrosa.

Pol Espargaro (KTM) was 10th, last of those to already have a foot in Q2 should the weather deteriorate overnight.

Jorge Lorenzo is the first of the big names that will need to improve on Saturday morning to avoid Q1, the Ducati rider finishing up 11th quickest. The same goes for Valentino Rossi, who was 12th quickest on the Yamaha.

Practice results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'29.225
2	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'29.230	0.005
3	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'29.322	0.097
4	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'29.329	0.104
5	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'29.423	0.198
6	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1'29.466	0.241
7	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'29.604	0.379
8	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'29.667	0.442
9	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'29.702	0.477
10	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'29.760	0.535
11	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'29.820	0.595
12	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'29.977	0.752
13	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'29.987	0.762
14	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'30.046	0.821
15	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'30.085	0.860
16	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'30.140	0.915
17	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'30.269	1.044
18	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1'30.274	1.049
19	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1'30.546	1.321
20	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1'30.682	1.457
21	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'30.777	1.552
22	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'31.688	2.463
23	23	Broc Parkes	Yamaha	1'32.152	2.927