The only night practice of the Qatar weekend proved to be a tight affair, as Fernandez on his year-old Aprilia edged ahead of Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio by 0.049 seconds after an hour of running.
Maverick Vinales had been set to end second practice fastest of all with a new lap record, but the Aprilia rider had his 1m52.652s deleted due to setting it under yellow flags after several late crashes.
A number of riders got caught out by the late yellow flags, with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo slumping from eighth to 21st as a result.
Both title challengers Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin made it through to Q2 for Saturday’s qualifying, with the latter edging ahead in seventh despite a scrappy session as he battled a lack of grip.
Di Giannantonio set the early pace in second practice on Friday evening with a 1m55.338s, before Raul Fernandez moved clear with a 1m55.093s inside the first five minutes of running.
Pol Espargaro dipped into the 1m54s with a 1m54.567s a few moments later, before Fernandez found a 1m54.309s.
A 1m54.148s from Vinales on his factory Aprilia ended the initial salvo of session-topping laps just over 13 minutes in.
Source: Autosport