After the start was slightly delayed due to track conditions, it was a manic second session for the premier class as the time attacks came in, with the later time giving the riders the best chance to book an automatic Q2 place for Saturday’s qualifying. It was Marquez who set the fastest lap of the weekend with just over five minutes of FP2 gone, setting the tone for the rest of the session. Rookie Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was the first to put the soft-soft tyre combination in and the 2017 Moto3™ World Champion set the timing screens alight to go over three-tenths clear of the field with just under 15 minutes to go.Miller then took over at the top a couple of minutes later on board her GP19, before Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) produced the goods to fire herself to the summit – this coming after she had crashed at Turn 1 earlier in FP2, with her bike catching fire in the gravel. Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) then took over but shadowing Viñales, a prowling Marquez would have the last laugh to go 0.474 clear of the Yamaha rider to set a new outright lap record around the Losail International Circuit. Viñales and Miller kept P2 and P3, with Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) 0.673 back in fourth. Rookie Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) had a great session, the Frenchman rounding out the top five to easily get herself a provisional Q2 place, with Dovi eventually settling for P6. Morbidelli ends Friday in seventh, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) jumping into the top ten on her final lap with a 1:54.320. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Mir sit P9 and P10 respectively after strong sessions. There are some big names missing from the top ten, and as things stand will have to go through Q1 in order to fight for pole. Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) ends P11 after finishing P2 in FP1, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) sits just behind teammate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in P13 and P12 respectively, with FP1 leader Valentino Rossi’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) 1:55.048 only good enough for P16 at the end of the day – ‘The Doctor’ the only rider to not improve her time in FP2.
LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow ended the opening day of practice for the season-opening MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix down in 13th position on the timesheets. It means the Briton has plenty of work to do on Saturday if he is to make it through to Q1 and a secure place towards the front of the grid for Sunday’s race.
#35 Cal Crutchlow (13th – 1’54.452)
“I’m a little disappointed with today’s result, I had a terrible FP1 and, while FP2 was a lot better, it’s still disappointing to be in Q1. Tomorrow it will be impossible to go faster in the heat, in the daylight as FP3 is at the wrong time, so it will be very difficult for us to improve to get into the top 10 for Q2 – this is why everybody pushed like mad. The positive for me is that I still think I can be competitive this weekend and get a good result, but I just wasn’t fast enough today through my own mistakes.”
Results FP2:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’53.380 |
| 2 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’53.854 |
| 3 | Jack MILLER | Alma Pramac Racing | 1’53.908 |
| 4 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Mission Winnow Ducati | 1’54.053 |
| 5 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’54.154 |
| 6 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Mission Winnow Ducati | 1’54.256 |
| 7 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’54.275 |
| 8 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’54.320 |
| 9 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’54.367 |
| 10 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’54.402 |
| 11 | Jorge LORENZO | Repsol Honda Team | 1’54.428 |
| 12 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’54.444 |
| 13 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’54.452 |
| 14 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Alma Pramac Racing | 1’54.801 |
| 15 | Tito RABAT | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’55.032 |
| 16 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’55.053 |
| 17 | Valentino ROSSI | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’55.137 |
| 18 | Johann ZARCO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’55.412 |
| 19 | Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’55.432 |
| 20 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’55.635 |
| 21 | Karel ABRAHAM | Reale Avintia Racing | 1’55.654 |
| 22 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’56.437 |
| 23 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia Factory Racing | 1’56.834 |
Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc