Aleix Espargaro led Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales in FP2 for the Catalan Grand Prix as the Italian manufacturer schooled the opposition.
Espargaro first showed what he was capable of by posting the fastest time of the weekend – a 1:40.067s – early on, an effort that held firm until Vinales banged in a 1:39.705s to hold a commanding lead at the head of the times.
As most of the field attempted a fast lap having spent the vast majority of the test continuing race runs off the back of FP1, Espargaro moved his RS-GP back to the peak of the timing pylon with just seconds to go in the session.
With nobody else lighting up the timing screens Friday honours were his, with Vinales hanging onto second ahead of the first non-Aprilia of Enea Bastianini – the Italian a distant 0.488s adrift of Espargaro.
Francesco Bagnaia ended the day fourth quickest on his factory Ducati ahead of Jorge Martin’s Pramac example, while Brad Binder flew the flag for KTM to complete the top six.
Jack Miller bagged seventh on the sister factory Desmosedici ahead of FP1 pace-setter Alex Rins on his Suzuki, with Yamaha’s Fabbio Quartararo and the second Pramac machine of Johann Zarco rounded off the fastest ten.
Franco Morbidelli failed to improve on his FP1 time but still held onto 11th ahead of Pol Espargaro, while VR46 duo Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini were shuffled all the way back to 14th and 16th respectively – the former having led the way early on.
Joan Mir’s recent struggles look to be continuing on the other Suzuki in a lowly 17th, the 2020 MotoGP world champion just heading LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.
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