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MotoGP San Marino GP: Bagnaia swoops to lead practice at Misano

MotoGP Francesco Bagnaia Aprilia Aleix Espargaro Jorge Martin Ducati Marc Marquez Honda Misano KTM Franco Morbidelli

MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia has responded to recent form threats from Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin to set the fastest lap at Misano on Friday.

Bagnaia was quickest in hot afternoon temperatures at the San Marino Grand Prix and his home circuit where he won MotoGP races in 2021 and 2022. The Italian is still struggling to change direction smoothly on the GP24 after his crash in Aragon last Sunday and waited until the final minutes to clock a time just three-tenths of a second from the lap record, set by Martin last year.

Martin, the current championship leader, was third fastest and less than three tenths behind his main title rival, with Marc Marquez splitting the pair in second. The Catalan is competing at the venue of his previous win in 2021 with Honda – having ended his win drought last weekend at Aragon.

Franco Morbidelli claimed the San Marino GP in 2020 and was able to enter the top 10 and therefore also Q2 with his last flying effort. The Italian placed leapt up to fourth place and registered his lap time in spite of a crash by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro that activated yellow lights and flags through Turn 1 and Turn 2 with less than two minutes to go.

In fifth was Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini who classified ahead of Tech3’s Pedro Acosta in sixth – the first of the non-Ducati riders.

The Spaniard initially fronted the session by matching the best lap times from FP1, but then had a slow speed crash into Turn 8, one of only six left hand corners at the historic layout, with seven minutes of the session remaining.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Another local, Marco Bezzecchi, was seventh for VR46 Ducati with Maverick Viñales as the first of the Aprilia quartet in eighth.

Fabio Quartararo hovered in the top 10 for most of the session despite a glitch with a swingarm wing that snapped off his Yamaha on the approach to Turn 8 as well as several off-track or off-line excursions. The Frenchman produced his most competitive practice pace of the season for ninth place and a Q2 spot.

Jack Miller grabbed a tow from Bagnaia to occupy 10th and the last Q2 spot, but KTM team-mate Brad Binder was 11th and the main victim of Morbidelli’s last-gasp effort, and being dumped out of the top 10 in the dying seconds means the South African has work to do in order to burst out of Q1 on Saturday morning.

Aleix Espargaro led his younger brother Pol, as the siblings settled in 12th and 13th for Aprilia and KTM respectively, with Miguel Oliveira 14th for Trackhouse Aprilia.

Honda could again count on Johann Zarco as its leading rider on the RC213V, as factory rider Joan Mir missed the Friday action due to a stomach virus, but he should be able to join Q1 tomorrow.

MotoGP San Marino GP - FP2 results

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 23

1'30.685

   167.842 296
2 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 27

+0.185

1'30.870

 0.185 167.500 297
3 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 27

+0.281

1'30.966

 0.096 167.324 296
4 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 25

+0.282

1'30.967

 0.001 167.322 297
5 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 23

+0.382

1'31.067

 0.100 167.138 296
6 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 24

+0.518

1'31.203

 0.136 166.889 298
7 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 27

+0.544

1'31.229

 0.026 166.841 297
8 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 27

+0.616

1'31.301

 0.072 166.710 297
9 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 30

+0.628

1'31.313

 0.012 166.688 290
10 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 27

+0.635

1'31.320

 0.007 166.675 296
11 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 23

+0.737

1'31.422

 0.102 166.489 297
12 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 20

+0.748

1'31.433

 0.011 166.469 294
13 Spain P. Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 44 KTM 19

+0.749

1'31.434

 0.001 166.467 295
14 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 25

+1.039

1'31.724

 0.290 165.941 296
15 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 24

+1.050

1'31.735

 0.011 165.921 295
16 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 22

+1.094

1'31.779

 0.044 165.841 290
17 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 24

+1.201

1'31.886

 0.107 165.648 293
18 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 25

+1.223

1'31.908

 0.022 165.609 294
19 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 23

+1.276

1'31.961

 0.053 165.513 295
20 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 25

+1.523

1'32.208

 0.247 165.070 291
21 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 20

+1.542

1'32.227

 0.019 165.036 295
22 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 24

+1.703

1'32.388

 0.161 164.748 294
23 Germany S. Bradl HRC Test Team 6 Honda 20

+3.131

1'33.816

 1.428 162.240 291
24 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 0

 

      
View full results  
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