Takaaki Nakagami was a shock fastest in FP2 for the Andalucian GP at Jerez, the Japanese heading the field by nearly two-tenths.
Nakagami spent most of the session in the lower reaches of the top ten, the LCR man focussing like most of his rivals on race runs.
He was one of the few to head out in the closing stages for a qualifying run, posting two laps quick enough to keep him at the head of the timesheets.
He first snatched the quickest time away from Johann Zarco’s Avintia Ducati by just 0.034 on his penultimate flyer, and then improved significantly on his final gambit to post a 1:37.715.
This moved him 0.155 clear of the Frenchman, who would hang onto second as the flag came down on the session despite tucking the front of his GP19 at Turn 6 early on.
Pol Espargaro-who once again led the majority of the session for KTM- was ultimately shuffled back to third, though he decided not to head back out for a final fast run at the end of the session.
The Spaniard suffered a small crash just after setting his best lap at around the mid-point of the session after running into Turn 2 slightly hot on his very next lap.
He was then forced to avoid a touring Zarco on the outside of the bend, heading into the gravel trap as a result and tipping off at a slow speed.
Franco Morbidelli managed to slot his Petronas SRT Yamaha fourth in FP2, just clear of Yamaha compatriots Maverick Vinales and FP1 leader Fabio Quartararo.
Joan Mir showed impressive speed on his Suzuki GSX-RR early on to run second before being bumped down to seventh late on, while Valentino Rossi was eighth on his factory M1.
The Pramac twins completed the top ten on their satellite GP20’s, Francesco Bagnaia edging Jack Miller for ninth.
It was a difficult second test for the factory Ducati outfit meanwhile, Andrea Dovizioso the best of its pilots down in 12th just ahead of team-mate Danilo Petrucci in 13th.
Aprilia saw a downturn in form relative to FP1 as Aleix Espargaro fell from just inside the top ten down to 16th, while team-mate Bradley Smith could muster up only 21st on the leaderboard-1.7seconds down on Nakagami’s benchmark.
The injured Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins continued to find more speed throughout the session, the pair ending up 19th and 20th respectively of their Honda and Suzuki machines, just over a second from the ultimate pace.
Jerez de la Frontera, Friday, July 24, 2020
| # | Rider | Team | Lap | Gap / Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’37.715 | |
| 2 | Johann ZARCO | Hublot Reale Avintia | 1’37.870 | 0.155 / 0.155 |
| 3 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’37.889 | 0.174 / 0.019 |
| 4 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’38.010 | 0.295 / 0.121 |
| 5 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’38.107 | 0.392 / 0.097 |
| 6 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’38.132 | 0.417 / 0.025 |
| 7 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’38.144 | 0.429 / 0.012 |
| 8 | Valentino ROSSI | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’38.292 | 0.577 / 0.148 |
| 9 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Pramac Racing | 1’38.309 | 0.594 / 0.017 |
| 10 | Jack MILLER | Pramac Racing | 1’38.385 | 0.670 / 0.076 |
| 11 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’38.441 | 0.726 / 0.056 |
| 12 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 1’38.442 | 0.727 / 0.001 |
| 13 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati Team | 1’38.543 | 0.828 / 0.101 |
| 14 | Tito RABAT | Hublot Reale Avintia | 1’38.557 | 0.842 / 0.014 |
| 15 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’38.642 | 0.927 / 0.085 |
| 16 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’38.722 | 1.007 / 0.080 |
| 17 | Iker LECUONA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’38.768 | 1.053 / 0.046 |
| 18 | Alex MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’38.806 | 1.091 / 0.038 |
| 19 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’38.847 | 1.132 / 0.041 |
| 20 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’39.101 | 1.386 / 0.254 |
| 21 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’39.476 | 1.761 / 0.375 |
| Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team |
