Aleix Espargaro topped the second practice session ahead of this weekend’s MotoGP race in Catalunya, with Marc Marquez missing out on Q2 for a second race running.
The 34-year-old who on Thursday announced his retirement at the end of the year smashed the lap-record with a strong lap-time of 1.38.562s.
KTM continued their strong showing from Friday morning with Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta finishing the session 0.073s behind the Aprilia rider.
Binder’s result should provide him with some much-needed confidence after the South African crashed on the entry to Turn 2 on two separate occasions inside the opening twenty minutes of the session, leaving his crew to make changes to the bike for the last runs.
Francesco Bagnaia slotted himself in fourth in the last set of runs, with KTM’s Jack Miller following closely behind his old Ducati team-mate.
Championship leader Jorge Martin followed in sixth, with Enea Bastianini making amends for his disappointing first practice outing to finish seventh ahead of Franco Morbidelli.
Alex Rins books himself into Q2 with an impressive lap to finish ninth, as Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales rounded off the top ten spots which separated the Aprilia riders by just under half a second.
The Gresini Ducati duo of Alex and Marc Marquez narrowly missed out on Q2, with the former having a late crash while the final laps were completed.
The Trackhouse Racing duo of Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez sandwiched Fabio Quartararo in the final proceedings, with the Yamaha rider relying on his second bike following an early crash in the tricky Turn 5.
VR46’s woes continued with Marco Bezzecchi coming out ahead of team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio as both occupied 16th and 17th, with Di Giannantonio crashing out two times himself during the session.
Once more Honda was unable to compete with the rest of the pack as their four riders occupied the last four spots, with Zarco finishing ahead of his team-mate Takaaki Nakagami by over half a second.
Joan Mir had the edge over Luca Marini, but once more Honda’s situation looks bleak even after some upgrades to the bike.
This weekend’s wildcard Stefan Bradl ruled himself out of the second practice due to a stomach virus.
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