Miller dominates Emilia-Romagna FP2, Marquez, Quartararo miss out on top ten

Jack Miller dominates day-one at the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP, while Joan Mir, Marc Marquez and championship leader Fabio Quartararo all missed out on the top ten.
Jack Miller, MotoGP, Emilia-Romagna MotoGP 22 October 2021
Jack Miller, MotoGP, Emilia-Romagna MotoGP 22 October 2021
© Gold and Goose

Jack Miller ended day-one of the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP fastest from fellow Ducati rider Johann Zarco after thoroughly dominating FP2. 

While track conditions remained less than ideal for the start of this afternoon’s session, riders were greeted by blue skies and a rapidly drying track as Miller and Miguel Oliveira quickly jumped up the order. 

Miller went second on just his third flying lap, before bettering Johann Zarco’s FP1 time a lap later by over eight tenths. 

Francesco Bagnaia then made it a Ducati 1-2-3 by going third, while Marc Marquez - finished second this morning - sat fourth overall. 

Iker Lecuona then split the Bologna bullets by going third overall, while Fabio Quartararo made significant gains. 

The championship leader only managed 18th in this morning’s session, however, the Yamaha rider was regularly inside the top ten to begin the session. 

Quartararo’s best effort put him seventh early, which was moments before a near-crash at turn four. 

Another rider who struggled in FP1 was current MotoGP world champion Joan Mir, but just like Quartararo, the Suzuki rider made his way up the order with sixth. 

Pol Espargaro, who was two seconds off the pace throughout FP2, became the first and only rider to crash in the session - turn 13. 

Bagnaia nearly went down for the second time today after braking on the curb heading towards turn four. The Italian rider’s Ducati momentarily locked the front which caused him to run off track. 

After struggling for much of the day, Aleix Espargaro put his Aprilia into third overall as the chequered flag came out. Espargaro was joined by former full-time team-mate Lorenzo Savadori - finished seventh. 

While the top two of Miller and Zarco remained unchanged, several big names missed out on a top ten including Mir, Marquez and Quartararo. 

Behind the top three were KTM riders Lecuona and Oliveira, while an impressive Luca Marini was sixth. Bagnaia finished eighth, Danilo Petrucci was ninth and Jorge Martin tenth.

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