Bastianini on record pace as Ducati proves dominant in second practice

Enea Bastianini picked up from where he left off in Misano less than a week ago as he topped the timesheets in Mandalika during Friday Practice for the Indonesian Grand Prix courtesy of a scintillating new lap record with just under ten minutes of the session remaining.

With the Italian heading up a Ducati 1-2-3-4-5, though the Italian manufacturer would dominate FP2 by successfully annexing seven of the available direct-to-Q2 spots, the scant 0.370s margin covering the top ten was indicative of the fine margins between the pacesetters.

It initially appeared Jorge Martin would be destined for Friday’s bragging rights after setting a mighty benchmark of 1m 29.670s with almost 15 minutes of the session to go, already almost three-tenths under Luca Marini’s erstwhile lap record.

However, after chipping away at his Ducati stablemate’s advantage, Bastianini surged to the summit of the leaderboard with an unmatched 1m 29.630s lap with eight minutes on the clock remaining.

Ensuring a 1-2 at the flag for the Misano sparring partners, Bastianini and Martin were chased by Franco Morbidelli in third place – the Italian, who set the pace in FP1, consolidating a strong opening day for both himself and the Pramac Ducati team to finish less than a tenth off the top.

Having spent much of the FP1 session putting in the slog of fine-tuning his race set-up, Pecco Bagnaia spared some blushes with a late ascent from outside the top ten to an eventual fourth, while Marco Bezzecchi also left it until the final seconds to see out of the top five.

Fabio Quartararo ended the day as the highest-placed non-Ducati in sixth, the Frenchman once more demonstrating glimmers of hope that Yamaha is edging back towards competitive form by comfortably booking his place in Q2.

Despite having to deploy one of his signature saves during a near-low side early on in the session, Marc Marquez recovered to seventh, while Pedro Acosta and Fabio di Giannantonio in eighth and ninth also made it safely through to Q2 despite each enduring a tip-off during the session.

Completing the top ten, Maverick Vinales nabbed the tenth and final direct Q2 slot, the Spaniard denying an unfortunate Johann Zarco, who was within a tenth of earning LCR and Honda a rare trip to the latter stages of qualifying.

Regardless, the Japanese manufacturer – yet to achieve a top 10 race result in 2024 – will…