Marc Marquez snatched the top spot in FP2 for the German GP at the Sachsenring with a late flyer over three-tenths faster than Suzuki’s Alex Rins.
Marquez usurped early leader Rins by a similar margin on his first flying lap in the opening minutes of the session, recording a 1:21.113 which was the fastest time of the weekend up to that point.
FP1 leader Fabio Quartararo then pipped the Spaniard to go fastest with a time just 0.013 quicker, before Rins retook the top spot with a 1:21.046 thanks to a new soft rear tyre.
Marquez wasn’t finished though, as he then smashed Rins’ time- with the help of a new soft rear of his own- with a final effort of 1:20.705, which was a whole 0.341 faster than the Suzuki pilot.
Quartararo attempted to monopolise Friday running on his final lap, but was blocked by SRT Petronas team-mate Franco Morbidelli, and was forced to settle for third behind Rins.
Maverick Vinales was fourth on his factory Yamaha M1 machine, while Pol Espargaro was fifth courtesy of a rapid final effort on his KTM, just 0.560 away from Marquez’s session topping time.
Cal Crutchlow was a brave sixth as he continues to ride through the paint of a fractured tibia, while Jack Miller was seventh ahead of the first of the factory Ducati’s, piloted by Danilo Petrucci.
Andrea Dovizioso could manage just ninth fastest on the second official Ducati as Valentino Rossi rounded out the top ten runners for Yamaha.
Aleix Espargaro looked to be building on the strong FP1 speed displayed by Aprillia team-mate Andrea Iannone as he sat sixth for a while, before being bumped down to 11th by the end of the 45-minute session.
Stefan Bradl was 14th fastest in this session, just under a second away from his team-leader Marquez’s time.
Francesco Bagnaia failed to take part in FP2 after he was forced to head to the local hospital for checks following his FP1 crash at Turn 8. News filtered through towards the end of the test that he was cleared of any injury and would rejoin the action for Saturday.
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