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MotoGP Italian GP: Vinales heads Quartararo in opening practice

For its home race, Aprilia has five RS-GPs on the grid with its two factory team riders, the Trackhouse Racing duo and wildcard Lorenzo Savadori.

Vinales was the best of them at the top of the timesheets in the first 45-minute practice of the Mugello weekend, the Spaniard setting a 1m46.140s on a fresh medium rear tyre in the closing stages.

He headed 2021 world champion Quartararo on the factory Yamaha, with Franco Morbidelli leading the Ducati charge on his Pramac-run GP24.

Marc Marquez set the early pace on his Gresini Ducati as he puts the rider market talk on his future to one side, the six-time MotoGP world champion posting a 1m47.002s.

Yamaha’s Alex Rins then took over moments later with a 1m46.719s, before Marquez returned to the top of the order with half an hour remaining.

Marquez’s 1m46.587s stood as the benchmark for the next 20 minutes before Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta – fitted with a new medium rear tyre – fired in a 1m46.459s.

Vinales edged ahead with a 1m46.140s five minutes later, which would cement his top spot as the chequered flag came out.

(Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Quartararo put in a late 1m46.328s to jump up to second, with Yamaha having tested recently at Mugello.

Morbidelli completed the top three from Acosta, who crashed late on at Turn 10 while pushing for a session-best lap.

Championship leader Jorge Martin – who looks set to join the factory Ducati squad next year – completed the top five having been one of only two riders alongside team-mate Morbidelli to fit a fresh soft tyre in FP1.

Marc Marquez was sixth having stuck with the same tyres all session, while Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was seventh ahead of Rins, who suffered an early crash at Turn 1.

Francesco Bagnaia looks to extend his run of Italian GP wins to three in succession this weekend on his factory team Ducati and was ninth in FP1, with Alex Marquez 10th on the sister Gresini Ducati.

The top factory team KTM was Jack Miller in 12th, while Pol Espargaro was 15th as he makes a wildcard appearance for the Austrian manufacturer at Mugello.

Luca Marini was the top Honda in 19th as the factory team HRC riders run the new aero Johann Zarco raced with last weekend at Barcelona.

Savadori was last on the fifth Aprilia.

MotoGP Italian GP - FP1 results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 19

1'46.140

  177.897  
2 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 16

+0.188

1'46.328

0.188 177.582  
3 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 19

+0.288

1'46.428

0.100 177.415  
4 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 17

+0.319

1'46.459

0.031 177.364  
5 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 17

+0.447

1'46.587

0.128 177.151  
6 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 20

+0.447

1'46.587

0.000 177.151  
7 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 18

+0.450

1'46.590

0.003 177.146  
8 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 15

+0.579

1'46.719

0.129 176.931  
9 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 16

 

     
10 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 19

+0.676

1'46.816

0.097 176.771  
11 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 16

+0.771

1'46.911

0.095 176.614  
12 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 19

+0.876

1'47.016

0.105 176.440  
13 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 20

+0.968

1'47.108

0.092 176.289  
14 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 19

+0.976

1'47.116

0.008 176.276  
15 Spain P. Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 44 KTM 16

+0.993

1'47.133

0.017 176.248  
16 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 17

+1.057

1'47.197

0.064 176.142  
17 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 18

 

     
18 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 19

+1.156

1'47.296

0.099 175.980  
19 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 16

+1.442

1'47.582

0.286 175.512  
20 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 17

+1.446

1'47.586

0.004 175.506  
21 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 16

+1.602

1'47.742

0.156 175.251  
22 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 18

+1.672

1'47.812

0.070 175.138  
23 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 18

+1.764

1'47.904

0.092 174.988  
24 Italy L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team 32 Aprilia 17

+1.972

1'48.112

0.208 174.652  
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