Vinales leads Marquez in FP2 scattered by falls

Full FP2 results at the French MotoGP

Maverick Vinales has vaulted to the top of the times at Le Mans in the second practice for Monster Yamaha ahead of Marc Marquez in a session hit by multiple fallers.

Under a dark sky conditions remained dry for Friday practice at the French MotoGP, but with riders pushing to maximise grip and performance a number of riders came unstuck in a shaken-up session.

But Vinales, who grabbed a confidence-boosting podium last time out in Jerez, kept in control to take top spot with a 1m 31.428s for the factory Yamaha squad to see off a late challenge from Marquez by nearly two-tenths of a second.

Local star Fabio Quartararo, who topped FP1, has maintained his fight at the front with third place on the Petronas Yamaha while Jorge Lorenzo caught the eye surging up to fourth place after his recent struggls on the Repsol Honda.

With Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso in fifth place, the first of the fallers in the order was also the first faller in the session in Danilo Petrucci who crashed on his opening out-lap losing grip from his front tyre on the exit kerb at Turn 8.

The Italian shook off the fall to take sixth place at the end of FP2 for Ducati, ahead of Pol Espargaro in seventh place who fell on two separate occasions from his Red Bull KTM. The Spaniard’s initial fall came at Turn 14, another to lose grip on the kerbs, before coming unstuck in the final minute of the session at Turn 11 pushing for a fast time.

Aleix Espargaro held on to eighth place for Aprilia despite a late fall at Turn 3, with Takaaki Nakagami climbing up to ninth place for LCR Honda after a low-key morning session.

Franco Morbidelli rounds out the top 10 for Petronas Yamaha, but Jack Miller holds the last provisional Q2 spot despite two crashes in FP2 for the Pramac Ducati rider, with Cal Crutchlow down in 11th place for LCR Honda having been another crasher late in the session coming off at Turn 6.

Francesco Bagnaia kept in contention with 12th place in FP2 for Pramac Ducati ahead of Valentino Rossi who struggled to replicate the late fast laps on his Monster Yamaha from his rivals.

Suzuki pair Joan Mir (14th) and Alex Rins (15th) find themselves in familiar territory at the end of Friday practice but ahead of Miller and Johann Zarco on the Red Bull KTM in 17th place.