MOTOGP: Marquez fastest, Lorenzo off the pace in FP2

Marc Marquez led the way for a resurgent Honda in second practice for this weekend's Argentinian MotoGP Grand Prix.

Honda struggled throughout pre-season testing with MotoGP's new control electronics, and while Marquez finished the Qatar season opener on the podium, admitted there was still plenty of work to do.

Marquez was second in the opening session at Termas de Rio Hondo on Friday, and led the way in the afternoon as Hondas filled four of the top five places. By contrast, world champion Jorge Lorenzo looked to struggle with the front end of his Yamaha, and only finished 14th, 1.240 seconds off Marquez's pace.

With wet weather forecast on Saturday and the top 10 riders on the combined practice times automatically advancing to the final phase of qualifying, Lorenzo could face a stern fight to secure a good grid position for Sunday's race.

Marquez was at the top of the order for the bulk of the session, and set the fastest time of the weekend - albeit still nearly four seconds off last year's pole lap – in the closing stages. His 1m41.579s was nearly half a second up, until team-mate Dani Pedrosa improved to within 0.025s inside the final minute.

Satellite Honda riders also shone, with Marc VDS's Jack Miller fourth and LCR's Cal Crutchlow fourth and fifth, within nine tenths of Marquez.

Suzuki's Maverick Vinales was in the middle of the pack of Hondas, 0.468s behind Marquez, despite falling at Turn 3 halfway through the session.

Both Suzuki riders crashed during the 45 minutes, as the dirty track surface slowly gripped up, with Aleix Espargaro doing so twice on his way to eighth, once at Turn 9, then again at Turn 1. His brother Pol Espargaro also fell twice and, having been third fastest in the opening session, Yonny Hernandez came to grief early at Turn 13 while chasing the Tech3 Yamaha rider and wound up 17th.

Pramac rider Scott Redding was the best of the Ducatis in sixth, with factory pair Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone 10th and 15th.

Valentino Rossi fared slightly better than team-mate Lorenzo and finished the session seventh, while Bradley Smith also booked a tentative place in the second phase of qualifying with the ninth-fastest time.

PRACTICE TWO TIMES

Originally on Autosport.com