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Motegi MotoGP: Dovizioso leads Friday practice, Marquez crashes

Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso topped the timesheets in second practice for MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, as Marc Marquez crashed late in the session

With conditions still poor, Marquez's practice one benchmark of 1m55.418s went unbeaten in the early stages of the afternoon's running.

That was until Dovizioso posted a 1m54.877s a little over 15 minutes into the session, surpassing Marquez's morning time by six tenths of a second and opening up a 1.1s cushion on the field.

Tech3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco slashed Dovizioso's advantage to a little under six tenths with 15 minutes to go as he leapt into second, before Marquez managed to come within 0.043s of beating his title rival.

But, shortly after moving into second, Marquez crashed his works Honda at the Turn 4/5 esses, bringing a premature end to his session and ensuring Dovizioso finished the day on top.

Despite his late fall, Marquez ended up second-fastest, as Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro made a late jump to third with a time 0.184s shy of Dovizioso.

Jorge Lorenzo was fourth on the second factory Ducati, 0.357s behind his team-mate, with Zarco once again ending up as the best Yamaha rider in fifth place.

Danilo Petrucci made it three GP17s in the top six aboard his Pramac example, followed by Andrea Iannone's Suzuki - now sporting the firm's new 'moustache' fairing.

Honda pair Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow and the second Suzuki of Alex Rins rounded out the top 10.

It was another difficult session for works Yamaha riders Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, who ended up 11th and 12th, 1.499s and 1.588s off the pace respectively.

Rossi only just beat Tech3 novice Kohta Nozane by 0.018s, as Jonas Folger's replacement once more ended up comfortably quickest of the contingent of local riders.

Besides Marquez, Bradley Smith and Scott Redding were the other riders to suffer crashes, both at Turn 11 at the end of the long back straight.

FP2 times

Pos Rider Team Time Gap Laps
1 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m54.877s - 17
2 Marc Marquez Honda 1m54.920s 0.043s 16
3 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1m55.061s 0.184s 16
4 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati 1m55.234s 0.357s 18
5 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha 1m55.468s 0.591s 18
6 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati 1m55.541s 0.664s 19
7 Andrea Iannone Suzuki 1m55.614s 0.737s 20
8 Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m55.773s 0.896s 20
9 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 1m56.149s 1.272s 19
10 Alex Rins Suzuki 1m56.229s 1.352s 18
11 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 1m56.376s 1.499s 18
12 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m56.435s 1.558s 18
13 Kohta Nozane Tech3 Yamaha 1m56.453s 1.576s 18
14 Scott Redding Pramac Ducati 1m56.680s 1.803s 13
15 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati 1m56.776s 1.899s 16
16 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati 1m56.827s 1.950s 21
17 Bradley Smith KTM 1m56.853s 1.976s 15
18 Pol Espargaro KTM 1m56.872s 1.995s 15
19 Sam Lowes Aprilia 1m57.250s 2.373s 17
20 Loris Baz Avintia Ducati 1m57.259s 2.382s 17
21 Hector Barbera Avintia Ducati 1m57.540s 2.663s 20
22 Hiroshi Aoyama MVDS Honda 1m57.548s 2.671s 18
23 Tito Rabat MVDS Honda 1m57.645s 2.768s 20
24 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha 1m58.341s 3.464s 17

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