I'm familiar with the trend to run a wider second gap than the first to keep pressure from being trapped between the two rings. But if you take into account that the top ring gap is going to close up more due to being exposed to more direct heat from the combustion chamber, I'd expect setting the gaps the same should have the same effect once the engine is running.

And why would the gap need to be any bigger than the top gap under running conditions, since the only point of this approach is to make sure there is no excess pressure build-up between the two rings that causes the top ring to lose seal? As long as the running gaps are the same, that should result in an equal sized "path" for any unwanted pressure build-up to escape, right? Any larger gap than the effective running gap of the top ring seems like more than is needed to my way of thinking...