Despite a small crash for one, the top three in the title fight sail to Friday’s timesheet summit as Bastianini keeps close tabs.
Following a slower start to proceedings at the Gran Premio Pramac dell’Emilia-Romagna due to damp conditions in morning, the sun shone on MotoGP™ Practice in the afternoon and it was some of 2024’s brightest stars that rose to the fore, with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) taking control. The #1 set a new Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli all-time lap record – a 1:30.286 – to beat World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) by 0.198s, with the #89 unable to search for an improvement in the closing stages after a small crash at Turn 8. Completing the top three was Round 13 winner Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) as the eight-time Champion sits 0.299s off Pecco heading into Saturday.
Having suffered from a fever during the morning, Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ Team) unfortunately sat out Emilia-Romagna Practice, which began with Martin and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) starting strong. The latter – pushing hard –then tucked the front at Turn 14 to hamper the rookie’s session slightly, before Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) slid down the road at Turn 1.
The thick of the action – as usual – started to surface in the final 20 minutes of the day. Martin was as rapid as ever on the soft Michelin rear but had his best time chalked off due to yellow flags being waved for an Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) crash – rider OK.
Then, Bagnaia started to build some scintillating momentum on familiar territory to climb to P1, before Martin’s session ended prematurely while shadowing teammate Franco Morbidelli. Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) ensured they’d finish the 60-minute stint towards the summit, as the Italian became another rider to have a small off at the end of the day.
That didn’t trouble ‘The Beast’ though, as he keeps tabs on the top three by ending the day in P4. Performance of the day goes to the rider in fifth place though – Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ Team). The Frenchman earns successive automatic Q2 appearances for the first time this season after unravelling a properly impressive display to beat the likes of sixth place Morbidelli and seventh place Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team).
The Italians will sleep well knowing they don’t have to stress about Q1 on Saturday morning, and so too will Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), Acosta and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) – late laps from all three Spaniards earned them a Friday pass into the pole position shootout.
Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) missed out by 0.050s in P11, as CASTROL Honda LCR’s Johann Zarco ended Friday in a commendable P12. Fighting fit Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) suffered a big crash in the latter moments of Practice to halt his top 10 charge, the Italian will be sore but determined on Saturday, as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) crashed at Turn 5 to also see his Q2 promotion hopes end.
The title frontrunners will be gunning for pole position honours on Saturday morning, as a crucial day awaits in Misano. Don’t miss a beat on motogp.com!
FP2: 10:10 (UTC +2)
Q1: 10:50
Q2: 11.15
Tissot Sprint: 15:00
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