Valencia GP: Nothing to separate Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia at The Decider

Quick
Quartararo

Quartararo
was
fastest
in
FP1
but
it
took
only
minutes
into
FP2
before
Alex
Rins
(Team
Suzuki
Ecstar)
bettered
it
with
a
1:31.238
and
then
Quartararo
himself
moved
the
marker
even
further
to
a
1:31.149.

The
opening
10
minutes
of
FP2
also
saw
a
spate
of
crashes,
first
Franco
Moribdelli
(Monster
Energy
Yamaha
MotoGP)
at
Turn
5
then
Fabio
Di
Giannantonio
(Gresini
Racing
MotoGP)
at
Turn
2,
before
Marc
Marquez
(Repsol
Honda
Team)
went
down
at
Turn
1
–
his
second
tumble
of
the
day
after
going
down
at
Turn
2
in
FP1.

Brilliant
Bagnaia

Marini
was
next
to
take
over
P1
when
he
set
a
1:31.110
in
the
27th
minute
of
the
session
–
but,
on
used
tyres,
he
was
only
warming
up.

Still,
he
remained
the
fastest
at
the
beginning
of
the
final
runs,
by
which
time
Bagnaia
had
crept
up
to
seventh
despite
a
couple
of
detours
into
run-off
areas,
and
Quartararo
had
emerged
unscathed
from
a
close
call
going
past
Darryn
Binder
(WithU
Yamaha
RNF
MotoGP^TM
Team)
at
Turn
13
on
the
half-hour
mark.

Striking
late

Martin
struck
late
to
claim
second
on
a
1:30.322
and
Miller
made
it
an
all-Ducati
top
three
when
he
improved
to
a
1:30.345,
ahead
of
Marc
Marquez
on
a
1:30.390
and
Enea
Bastianini
(Gresini
Racing
MotoGP)
in
fifth
on
a
1:30.394.
Miguel
Oliveira
(Red
Bull
KTM
Factory
Racing)
took
sixth
on
a
1:30.422,
ahead
of
Johann
Zarco
(Prima
Pramac
Racing)
on
a
final-lap
of
1:30.424.

Quartararo
got
down
to
a
1:30.442
on
his
time
attack
but
it’s
P8,
and
Bagnaia
finished
ninth
on
that
1:30.447.

Down
to
the
wire

One
more
free
practice
session
remains
before
the
first
10
Q2
riders
are
locked
in,
and
neither
of
the
MotoGP
Championship
contenders
are
safe
yet.

Tune
in
for
a
crucial
FP3
session
on
Saturday
from
9.55
am
local
time
(2.25pm
IST),
before
qualifying
for
the
Decider
reveals
one
piece
of
the
puzzle
as
the
grid
is
set
from
2.10pm
local
time
(6.40pm
IST).
Indian
audience
can
catch
all
the
action
live
on
Eurosport
channel.