MotoGP Race And Practice Results

The habitual thrill of MotoGP qualifying attracted some unwelcome gloomy visitors over the scenic Italian circuit but the clouds behaved themselves long enough for us to enjoy two standout sessions – for very different reasons. It was hardly a surprise to see Fabio Quartararo at the top of the timesheets as soon as he was unleashed on track and because he had no real challenger, the Frenchman challenged himself to improve the all time lap record once sat on provisional pole. He promptly achieved that with one minute left on the clock and claimed his fourth consecutive pole position of the season. However, a late charge from Pecco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco ensured that the Yamaha man won’t be too comfortable going into turn 1 on Sunday, with the fast-starting Ducatis waiting to pounce from the front row of the grid.

Aleix Espargaro made the best of his escape from Q1 and turned it into a fine second row start, having spent much of Q1 inside the top three positions. He will be in familiar company from Jack Miller and Brad Binder, who pushed teammate Miguel Oliveira to row three. The Portuguese rider opens a strong third row featuring the Suzuki duo of Alex Rins and Joan Mir, while Franco Morbidelli rounded out the top ten on home soil.

Meanwhile, Maverick Viñales watched from his garage with a face like thunder as the TV director turned the camera towards public enemy number one: Marc Marquez. Fully aware that he needs a solid reference to tackle Q1, the Honda man had left pitlane superglued to the back of his compatriot. The chosen target was unhappy but after an underwhelming first run, Viñales had little time to shake off the unwanted attention from both Marquez brothers on his second run, as much as he tried to. Marquez played his cards and claimed top spot in the session, while Viñales was set free for one final flying lap that he ultimately messed up. And that, kids, is the tale of how Marquez joined his teammate on the fourth row of the grid and Viñales, with solid race pace, has to mount a comeback from 13th grid position.

Results:

After Mugello offered impeccable conditions for the circus’ return to Italy, a touch of grey coloured the sky ahead of the lightweight class’ qualifying session. It ultimately proved irrelevant but teams and riders still tried to gamble so Q2 was slow to get going, until Pedro Acosta opened the show, fresh off an eventful Q1. It was Gabriel Rodrigo who claimed provision pole after the first run of laps but half the pack was yet to post a timed lap until the final handful of minutes. Ultimately it was Q1 leader Tatsuki Suzuki who kept the pace up to claim pole position in Mugello by over half a second from the championship leader. Acosta wobbled his way through Q1 but managed to secure his first front row start of his rookie season to date, while Rodrigo got pushed back to third.

With many of the teams only joining the action for two flying laps, the strategy didn’t really pay off, especially as a scary incident involving Jason Dupasquier and Ayumu Sasaki prompted a red flag in the closing stages of Q2. However, Dennis Foggia seems to be getting his season back on track with fourth on the grid on home soil, ahead of Jaume Masia and Jeremy Alcoba on the second row. Romano Fenati opens row three, where he is joined by Niccolò Antonelli and John McPhee, while Sasaki and Dupasquier qualified on row four but the Swiss rider required medical assistance after their accident and his participation in tomorrow’s race looks uncertain.

FP3 leader Andrea Migno will not be particularly happy to see his name down in 17th position, behind Darryn Binder and ahead of teammate Filip Salac, but the Rivacold Snipers duo did not seem to get a proper flying lap in. Another notable mention goes to wildcard Alberto Surra, who missed out on Q2 by three tenths and is due to start the race in 19th grid spot.

Results:

World Supersport Superpole qualifying was a windy twenty minute session. Nikki Tuuli would start race one from the pit lane due to his incident last weekend; his qualifying would be for grid position for Sunday's race.

Luca Bernardi opened the session with a 1'40.664, quicker than Jules Cluzel and Dominique Aegerter on the first timed lap. His time was beaten a lap later by Federico Caricasulo who set another fastest lap, a 1'40.192, on his third timed lap. Jules Cluzel and Steven Odendaal were second and third as most riders pitted in for a break, but Philipp Oettl stayed out for one more lap and sneaked in a second place, pushing Cluzel down a spot.

After a brief break, Federico Caricasulo put in a 1'39.973, having avoided traffic before setting up a clean run. At the flag, he was three thousandths of a second off his best time, and Steven Odendaal was the only rider on a lap that might challenge him. 

Steven Odendaal lost out in the last sector, but still managed to get himself onto the front row, third placed alongside Federico Caricasulo and Philipp Oettl. Jules Cluzel, Dominique Aegerter and Raffaele de Rosa will start from the second row. Nikki Tuuli will start race two from seventh, but Hannes Soomer will sit on his grid spot in race one, ahead of Luca Bernardi.

Results:

The intermediate class got one final chance to secure a direct Q2 position and although Sam Lowes topped Friday’s action, he was in a rush to leave his mark on FP3 as well, imrpoving his own benchmark on only his second lap of the session. The British rider went on to set a new lap record and rival Raul Fernandez spend the rest of the session threatening that time. The rookie got the job done eventually and improved the old record by over half a second in the closing stages of FP3. Remy Gardner reduced the gap to his teammate to one tenth of a second, while Lowes was demoted to third.

Behind the standout trio, there was a half second gap to the next quickest man, Aron Canet claiming that honour despite a late tumble at turn 12. Home favourite Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the top five, closely followed by Marcel Schrotter and his rookie teammate Tony Arbolino. Joe Roberts and Xavi Vierge were the last riders to post a time within a second the leader, with Augusto Fernandez rounding out the top ten.

Jorge Navarro was the only rider who failed to go any quicker than Friday but his FP2 time was fast enough for 11th position overall, despite finishing FP3 in 16th place. A pretty anonymous Marco Bezzecchi was joined by Ai Ogura and Lorenzo Dalla Porta in the final Q2 positions, leaving the likes of Bo Bendsneyder and Marcos Ramirez to fight it out in Q1.

Results: