VINALES ON TOP FOR APRILIA
Conditions were wet for a majority of Friday’s MotoGP action at the Misano World Circuit, however in the brief dry conditions at the start of the day, it was Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales who topped the timesheets.
The Spanish rider, in just his second weekend with Aprilia – after the well-publicised mid-season split with Yamaha – topped the timesheets.
Vinales went to the top before the rain hit the circuit midway through FP1 and remained wet for the rest of the day.
Therefore at the end of the day’s proceedings the pack appears shuffled, with several of the big names further down the order.
At the end of the 90 minutes of practice Vinales was fastest setting a 1m32.666s time for Aprilia, marking the first time he has topped the times for the Italian team.
Just 0.08s behind was the reigning champion Joan Mir on his factory Suzuki, with the two factory Ducatis in third and fourth respectively.
After taking his maiden MotoGP victory last weekend Francesco Bagnaia ended the day third fastest, with his Aussie teammate Jack Miller was only a further 0.058s back in fourth.
The second Suzuki rider Alex Rins rounded out the top five, nearly 0.4s behind.
Next came the first of three Hondas within the top 10, Pol Espargaro was sixth ahead of Yamaha rider and championship leader Fabio Quartararo in seventh.
Honda Wildcard rider Stefan Bradl, six-time champion Marc Marquez and Silverstone podium finisher Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top 10
Championship contender Johann Zarco was keen to get his title chances back on track after failing to finish in the top 10 in the last three races.
The Frenchman finished outside of the top 10 on the opening day overall, but was comfortably faster than the rest of the grid in the second practice session.
It was a Ducati 1-2-3 in practice 2 with Zarco 0.553s faster than Bagnaia and 0.622s faster than Miller.
Mir, Marquez and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira were next in the incredibly tricky conditions.
Seven-time champion Valentino Rossi had an off-track excursion in the challenging conditions, but got away likely compared to others.
Enea Bastianini suffered a crash when his front-end tucked on him instantly in the incredibly tough conditions.
Spaniard Iker Lecuona had a massive stack at Turn 1 also, the KTM Tech3 rider suffered a massive high-side and was thrown high in the air before crashing back to earth on the exit of the corner.
The Spanish rider was forced to limp away from the scene and across the gravel to safety, it is hoped he will return later on today.
Making his highly anticipated return to MotoGP, Andrea Dovizioso racing for Petronas Yamaha for the first time, rounded out the field on a steady but solid opening day within the Petronas squad.
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