MILLER FASTEST, MIR TUMBLES IN VALENCIA

Jack Miller fastest as Joan Mir tumbles in Valencia – Photo: LAT

Australian Jack Miller has once again set the pace in MotoGP practice at Valencia, this time for the Valencian Grand Prix.

By RHYS VANDERSYDE

Just like he did for last weekend’s European Grand Prix, the Pramac Ducati rider topped the timesheets at the end of second practice. But the real story was the drama for the title rivals.

Championship leader Joan Mir ended the day 11th fastest after a late crash at Turn 4 in FP2. Unharmed, the Suzuki rider scrambled to get back to the pits to complete the session on his second bike, but he was unable to set a time inside the top ten.

Mir’s main rival Fabio Quartararo also struggled, with 16th fastest the best that the Petronas SRT Yamaha rider could achieve. Continuing his struggles with the Spanish venue from last weekend.

Takaaki Nakagami, who set the fastest time in FP1, was the early pacesetter in FP2 after setting a 1m30.713s on his LCR Honda.

The Japanese rider’s time stood up for the majority of the session, but would ultimately be surpassed by Miller who set 1m30.662s right at the end of FP2 in a rapid succession of fast lap times.

Nakagami’s time was good enough to hold on to second fastest ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati), Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM), Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Ducati), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Alex Rins (Suzuki), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Maverick Vinales (Monster Yamaha).

Honda’s Alex Marquez took two tumbles during the session, the first at Turn 2 before a similar crash to Mir at Turn 4 with just a few minutes left in the session.

Qualifying gets underway 12;45am AEDT tomorrow and can be viewed on Fox Sports 507.

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