MotoGP Sepang FP2: Dovizioso confirms his lead, Marquez moves up, Ducati rebirth, Rossi sixth

GP Malaysia Sepang MotoGP Free Practice 2 – The rain returned to "torment" the MotoGP, after there had been a respite in Australia (at least in the race), while in Motegi, the weekend was held from Friday to Sunday on wet asphalt.

After a dry first free practice session (Dovizioso the fastest, click here for the report), free practice 2 saw the riders take to the track with rain tires and the fastest in these conditions was again Andrea Dovizioso, who took the Ducati Desmosedici GP17 to the top with a time of 2:11.640.

The rider from Forlì preceded by more than half a second the leader of the world championship standings Marc Marquez (who has a 33 point advantage over “DesmoDovi”), who could already achieve the sixth title of his career in Sepang, the fourth in the MotoGP (read on the combinations that would give the title to Marquez).

Third time for another Ducati, that of the Majorcan Jorge Lorenzo, 1.055 off the top. Lorenzo precedes his Yamaha compatriot Maverick Vinales and Danilo Petrucci's Ducati, a Ducati that after the Phillip Island debacle, finds its smile again on the Malaysian circuit.

Valentino Rossi, twelfth in the dry this morning, set the sixth fastest time, 1.431s behind Dovizioso. The Yamaha champion is ahead of Alvaro Bautista's Ducati, the Suzukis of Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone and Sam Lowes' Aprilia, with the Noale company fielding the only British rider, given Aleix's withdrawal due to a fracture in his left hand Espargarò, fracture caused by a fall in the Phillip Island race.

Returning to Iannone, it would seem (the conditional is a must given the lack of clear images) that he caused the contact between Hector Barberà and Maverick Vinales, which cost Barberà a fall, which fortunately resolved itself without consequences.

Johann Zarco, the great protagonist at Phillip Island, finished eleventh and was the victim of a fall without consequences.

Still big problems for Dani Pedrosa, eighteenth and ahead of the debutant Michael van der Mark (Yamaha Superbike rider), which he replaces Jonas Folger riding the Team Tech M1.

Photos: Alex Farinelli