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MotoGP Austria: Honda's Marquez heads Redding in delayed wet FP2

MotoGP points leader Marc Marquez led Aprilia rider Scott Redding in a wet second practice session in Austria

Torrential rain hit the track a few minutes before the start of FP2, which led to the session being delayed by 15 minutes.

It was still raining heavily when the session did start, and only Alex Rins and Johann Zarco explored the track during the first 10 minutes.

Rins was a long way off Andrea Dovizioso's FP1 benchmark and soon pitted, but Zarco stayed out and did several laps on track.

The rain soon abated and Zarco gradually improved his time, lapping below the 1m40s barrier at the halfway point.

With more riders joining the track, Redding took over the lead, gaining time lap by lap as conditions slowly improved.

The Briton's best time was a 1m34.538s when he pitted with 13 minutes to go, but he was then demoted by Marquez.

Championship leader Marquez went faster with a 1m33.995s soon afterwards, just before heavier rain started to fall again - preventing anyone else from making an improvement.

Redding ended up second, 0.543s behind Marquez, followed by the satellite Ducati of Danilo Petrucci and factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Dovizioso.

KTM's Bradley Smith was sixth, beating Suzuki's Rins by 0.015s. Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) was more than two seconds off the pace in eighth, as the top 10 was rounded out by Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and the leading factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi.

With nobody able to improve on their FP1 times, Rossi's 11th place from the morning session means he is set to take part in the first part of qualifying if FP3 on Saturday morning is also affected by rain.

The Yamahas of Zarco and Maverick Vinales were only 15th and 20th, while Dani Pedrosa was 23rd and last, 5.9s adrift.

Franco Morbidelli, who was 13th fastest, has been given a three-place grid penalty for "irresponsible riding" and impeding Aleix Espargaro at Turn 2 in FP1.

FP2 times

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap Laps
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m33.995s - 7
2 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 1m34.538s 0.543s 13
3 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m34.981s 0.986s 8
4 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 1m35.488s 1.493s 6
5 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m35.514s 1.519s 9
6 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1m35.970s 1.975s 8
7 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m35.985s 1.990s 14
8 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m36.135s 2.140s 10
9 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m36.202s 2.207s 11
10 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m36.327s 2.332s 14
11 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 1m36.384s 2.389s 10
12 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m36.950s 2.955s 8
13 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 1m37.105s 3.110s 10
14 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m37.296s 3.301s 10
15 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m37.361s 3.366s 14
16 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m37.552s 3.557s 5
17 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 1m37.772s 3.777s 9
18 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m37.876s 3.881s 13
19 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m38.072s 4.077s 14
20 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m38.174s 4.179s 8
21 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m38.892s 4.897s 11
22 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m39.349s 5.354s 12
23 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m39.911s 5.916s 4


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