BAGNAIA FASTEST ON FRIDAY AT MUGELLO

The MotoGP field was incredibly tight on the opening day of practice in Mugello, Italy, with factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia on top of the timesheets after the first two practice sessions.

It was fitting that an Italian rider on an Italian bike should set the fastest time on the opening day in Italy.

At the end of Friday practice, the top 16 riders were covered by less than a second, with the top eight within half a second.

Australian Jack Miller focused on race runs for a majority of the day, which is why he ended the day in 10th, 0.541s slower than his teammate Bagnaia.

There was a flurry of quick times set in the closing seconds of the day and in the end it was Bagnaia who ended up fastest with a time of 1m 46.147s, 0.071s faster than Suzuki rider Alex Rins.

After failing to score in the last three races, Rins is looking to build back confidence and rebounded strongly by setting the second fastest time.

Despite riding on the slowest bike in a straight line, Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli dragged his year-old Petronas Yamaha to an impressive third position, 0.184s off Bagnaia’s time.

Morbidelli’s former teammate Fabio Quartararo was next, ahead of top KTM rider Brad Binder who made it four manufacturers in the top five.

Sixth fastest was Binder’s KTM teammate Miguel Oliveira and the fastest Honda man Takaaki Nakagami.

New father Maverick Vinales was fastest in the first session, however, he was one of only two riders not to improve in practice 2.

Vinales was on two quick laps but was unable to complete either of them, the first because of traffic and the second due to an off-track excursion.

Nevertheless, his P1 time was identical to Nakagami and therefore ended up eighth overall.

Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro’s time was just 0.508s slower than Bagnaias, and was good enough for ninth, meaning all six manufacturers ended up inside the top 10.

Johann Zarco was the other rider not to improve in practice 2 and ended the day just outside the top 10 in 11th, ahead of reigning champion Joan Mir.

Six-time champion Marc Marquez expected Mugello to be difficult due to his arm injury.

However, despite sitting around 18th for much of the day, when push came to shove, he leapt to 13th, just ahead of his teammate Pol Espargaro.

Replacement rider Michele Pirro (subbing in for the injured Jorge Martin) ended up 15th in front of reigning Italian Grand Prix winner Danilo Petrucci.

It was a disastrous day for MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, the Italian ended the day in 21st position, 1.572s off his protégé Bagnaia’s time.

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