Pramac MotoGP rider Jorge Martin edged out Aleix Espargaro in second practice for the British Grand Prix amid a close battle between Ducati and Aprilia for the top spot.
Ducati had an early scare at the start of one-hour session, with both Enea Bastianini and Marco Bezzecchi having to pull up at the edge of the track with smoke coming out of their respective bikes.
It didn’t take long for the duo to return to the garage and hop on their second machines, although there were concerned faces seen at Ducati as they remained perplexed by the cause of the problem.
Meanwhile, Martin carried his form from first practice to lead early on with a 1m59.583s, before he was dislodged from the top spot by championship leader Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati on a 1m59.142s.
Team-mate Bastianini then managed to go even quicker on the sister GP24, a 1m59.026s putting him at the head of the order at the halfway point of the session.
Maverick Vinales asserted Aprilia’s pace by finding even more time on the RS-GP, becoming the first rider this weekend to break the 1m59s barrier as he lapped the circuit in 1m58.563s.
More changes followed in the final leg of the session, with Espargaro taking over from team-mate Vinales with a 1m58.512s before Bagnaia put Ducati back at the front thanks to a 1m58.447s.
Fabio Di Giannantonio enjoyed a brief stint at the top until Martin returned to the head of the order with a 1m58.262s.
A final flurry of laps followed in the dying minutes of the session, with Espargaro setting a remarkable 1m57.956s on the Aprilia before Martin lowered the benchmark even further with a 1m57.911s to end the day at the top of the order.
Bagnaia ended up third on a 1m58.030s, with team-mate Bastianini finishing another 0.160s adrift to finish a solid fourth.
KTM’s Jack Miller put in another impressive performance to take fifth and secure a direct passage into Q2, beating the VR46 bike of Di Giannantonio but crucially his team-mate Brad Binder by over a tenth.
Vinales dropped to eighth in the final order behind Binder, while Bezzecchi was ninth after an early scare that left him with a single bike in FP2.
Gresini’s Marc Marquez was the last rider to make it directly into Q2 on a 1m58.585s, 0.674s off the pace set by Martin.
A number of leading riders will have to get through Q1, including Franco Morbidelli on the Pramac Ducati (11th), Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta (13th) and Gresini’s Alex Marquez (14th).
Fabio Quartararo was the top Yamaha rider in 16th place, while the Honda contingent was led by LCR rider Johann Zarco in 17th.
