Enea Bastianini smashed together a new lap record around the Mandalika International Circuit in the second Friday MotoGP practice.
Despite going faster in his final run before it had to be aborted due to Augusto Fernandez impeding, Bastianini posted a lap time of 1.29.630s. He was accompanied by the Pramac duo of Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli, who rounded off the top three spots.
Despite the clear weather and blue skies, the dirty parts of the tracks will catch riders out if they exceed their version of the limit.
Pedro Acosta placed himself on top of the timesheets with a hot lap early on but crashed in Turn 1. He came very close to saving it as he clung onto the bike the whole way through.
Marc Marquez made a save of his own while on a fast lap at Turn 10 only a few minutes later.
Pramac Racing riders Morbidelli and Martin dominated the early phases, with riders 1-2 and looking strong.
Francesco Bagnaia has struggled to get up to speed in both practice sessions, but it is well known that the two-time champion grows into the weekend as he formulates the correct setup.
He sat 14th before the second phase of the session before Bagnaia finished fourth overall, putting all GP24 Ducati riders in the top four positions.
Marco Bezzecchi finished fifth in the final classification ahead of Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, the sole Japanese manufacturer to finish in the top ten.
Older brother Marquez finished in seventh ahead of GasGas KTM rookie Acosta, with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Maverick Vinales rounding off the top ten.
Seven different teams will guarantee to start in the top 12 for both races, with Honda showing strong speed, too, thanks to Johann Zarco and Luca Marini continuing off from earlier to finish 11th and 12th spot.
Alex Rins finished in 13th and showed his competitiveness after sitting out of the last race in Misano’s second race.
Brad Binder and Alex Marquez crashed in the closing stages, with the latter rider interrupting various riders’ hot laps.
Binder tried to produce a competitive lap time on his spare bike, but could only muster 14th ahead of Aleix Espargaro.
Espargaro crashed out twice in the final Turn 16 at the midway phase of the session, struggling to acclimate to the track aboard his Aprilia. He finished in 15th.
The lower positions were occupied by Taakaki Nakgami, Raul Fernandez, Joan Mir, Augusto Fernandez and younger brother Marquez.
Only 1.3s separated the whole grid, with the top ten covered by 0.370s, meaning all to play for heading into qualifying and both races.
Miguel Oliveira’s Turn 4 high side in the first practice confirmed the fracture of his right wrist, making him unfit to continue the race weekend.
