Franco Morbidelli fired to the head of the times late in FP2 for the Catalan Grand Prix to lead the field into Saturday, while Johann Zarco impressed for Avintia Ducati.
Morbidelli looked to be the man in form across the breadth of the 45 minute test, the Italian leading the way mid-way through with a 1:40.573 ahead the improving KTM’s of Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro despite a relatively minor crash at the slow Turn 10 left-hander .
Most of the contenders headed out late on to try and improve their best efforts, a late flurry of times seeing position changes up and down the leader board.
Joan Mir demoted Morbidelli first of all, the Suzuki ace squeaking ahead with a 1:40.441, though his stay at the top wouldn’t last long thanks to an inspired Binder.
The South African posted a storming 1:40.008 to go nearly half-a-second clear of anyone else, KTM coming out swinging following a rather quiet FP1 performance.
Morbidelli though was keen to see his name at the peak of the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya pylon, the San Marino GP victor shooting back to the top with the first sub 1:40 lap of the weekend, a time ultimately strong enough to keep him just 0.109 ahead of a similarly late-improving Zarco.
Binder therefore dropped to third as a result, while Maverick Vinales and Mir completed the top five.
Takaaki Nakagami led Honda’s charge in a strong sixth for his LCR outfit ahead of Espargaro’s KTM, while Alex Marquez improved markedly from FP1 to back up his fellow Honda rider in eighth.
Valentino Rossi took the chequered flag ninth fastest on the second official Yamaha, while the top ten was rounded out by the second Suzuki GSX-RR of Alex Rins.
FP1 pacesetter Fabio Quartararo had a rather more muted FP2, the Frenchman only 13th as the session came to a close.
It was a rather strange session as far as the Ducati GP20’s went too, with Jack Miller the machines highest representative in 11th, team-mate Francesco Bagnaia continuing to struggle in 20th.
The Italian manufacturers reading didn’t get any more positive when it came to the factory squad, FP1 runner-up Andrea Dovizioso just 18th while Danilo Petrucci was last of the 22 runners-a worrying 2.4 seconds from Morbidelli’s benchmark.
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