Jack Miller tops the combined times list, ahead of Maverick Viñales and Takaaki Nakagami

Jack Miller topped the board for Friday’s Combined Practice results; his 1:34.356 being a 10 second improvement from the morning’s session, although that can be deduced from the weather rather than a dramatic move in the Pramac garage. Miller dominated the majority of Free Practice 2, and with his P4 result in FP1, it came as no surprise that the Pramac Racing rider out remain on form in the following session. 

Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales followed in second, with a 0.144s gap to the lead. Last time around, Viñales showed strong form throughout the weekend, even earning a spot on Row 2 of the grid. However, 2020 has proved that the Spaniard simply isn’t a Sunday man, struggling to remain in the top 10 in the Catalan race. Will we see a change of heart this time around?

On form yet again is LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, who has placed third at the end of today; the Japanese rider has shown illustrious consistency all season, along with continuous improvements in the practice sessions. With the Le Mans weekend continuing as every weekend has for Nakagami, we look to tomorrow’s sessions to see what the LCR man will make of Qualifying.

Danilo Petrucci took the fourth spot in the final session of the day, just 0.698 seconds from Miller. While Johann Zarco and Valentino Rossi were originally set to complete the top 5, a late crash from Nakagami had their final laps cancelled, meaning the pair were pushed down the order; Zarco places 10^th in the Combined Results, with Rossi taking 12^th. While Rins had his final lap scratched out also, due to the same incident, his demotion was less severe – dropping the Suzuki rider from 11^th down to 14^th. With risk of having to fight through Q1 tomorrow afternoon, the three men will need to pick up the pace in Free Practice 3.

Cal Crutchlow rounded out the top 5, the Brit showing a strong improvement from his injury-ridden weekend last time out in Catalunya; his time of 1:35.054 prevented Alex Marquez from taking P5. However, the Repsol Honda rider’s 6^th place in the combined times is one to be highly commended.

How will the French weather hold out for Qualifying? We’ll find out tomorrow.

FP3 will begin at 09:55 Local Time.

Feature Image: Gold and Goose