Maverick Viñales led the second free practice session of the MotoGP Thai GP. The rider led an Aprilia 1-2 in a very tight session.
In a session that no longer counted for anything other than preparation, the leader after the first timed laps was Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), pursued by Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
The timesheets changed completely afterward, with Viñales (Aprilia) and Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) taking the top two positions and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) in third.
Pol Espargaró (GasGas Tech3/KTM) briefly held the lead, as did Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) at the end of the first ten minutes, only for Álex Márquez to take over. He, in turn, was later overtaken by Viñales and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).
With just over a third of the session completed, there was some stability in the timesheets. In the final five minutes, there were changes in the top positions, with Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) pursuing Viñales.
Until the end, no one managed to beat the Spaniard, but Aleix Espargaró came very close, finishing second just 0.041s behind with his last lap. Also, in the final attempt, Bagnaia took third place, just 0.048s adrift, while Quartararo finished fourth, 0.067s off the pace.
Oliveira closed the top five, 0.110s behind, showing clear improvements after finishing last in both sessions yesterday. Balance was clear in this session, with the top 15 riders separated by less than half a second.
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