The FP2 practice for the MotoGP™ riders at the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar saw Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) on top again, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Alvaro Baustista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) two and three.
Espargaro’s 1’54.989 best time was 0.2s better than he went in FP1 and was 0.3s quicker than his closest rival in this session as Dovizioso pushed hard on the GP14 in second.
The Italian was nearly two seconds sharper than on Thursday on the softer Bridgestone tyre. Bautista looked good again in third, though he was almost half a second down on Espargaro.
Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez stepped up their pace in fourth and fifth respectively, though they will want to close their half second gap to the top of the timesheet in FP3. Marquez survived two big wobbles with his injured leg, whilst Pedrosa looked less than happy at the end of the session.
Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) were sixth and seventh, with rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) in eighth after a crash early in the session.
Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was a second off the pace in ninth with his compatriot Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) just behind him in tenth. Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was in the unfamiliar territory of 11th, +1.183s behind his countryman Espargaro.
