Submitted by Zara Daniela on
The premier class made the best of the final opportunity to show off their pace and quite a few men earned their bragging rights at the end of the 30 minutes. Pecco Bagnaia was first of those men, a tenth faster than Joan Mir’s top time but both riders had pace to spare in the low 1:32s. While the still convalescent Italian decided to rest a little by only doing one run, Mir managed to run full race distance on his tyres, to impressive results.
Maverick Vinales’s effort was on par with the leaders to finish third but we’ve repeatedly learned that it's not always a good indication of his performance on Sunday. Pol Espargaro managed not to add any more tumbles to his portfolio in Misano and climbed to fourth, ahead of Fabio Quartararo, who might be somewhat worried by how many rivals are matching his fast pace.
Danilo Petrucci continues to progress on home soil, up sixth in the session but only narrowly ahead of rookies Alex Marquez and Iker Lecuona, who finished only four tenths off top spot. The KTM duo of Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira rounded out the top ten, the Portuguese rider catching up after a bruising morning in Misano.
Some of the stars of last weekend, Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi, could not quite keep up with their teammates and missed out on the top ten, about half a second off the pace. Despite having two men in top ten positions, the rest of the Ducati garage had a concerning session, with Andrea Dovizioso in 13th position and Jack Miller 18th, over a second off his teammate’s top time. Takaaki Nakagami’s 16th place could partly be explained by an early tumble at turn 15, but Alex Rins in 17th offered much less of an explanation.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
1 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'32.005 | ||
2 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'32.103 | 0.098 | 0.098 |
3 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 1'32.124 | 0.119 | 0.021 |
4 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 1'32.145 | 0.140 | 0.021 |
5 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1'32.295 | 0.290 | 0.150 |
6 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'32.348 | 0.343 | 0.053 |
7 | 73 | Alex Marquez | Honda | 1'32.382 | 0.377 | 0.034 |
8 | 27 | Iker Lecuona | KTM | 1'32.425 | 0.420 | 0.043 |
9 | 33 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1'32.518 | 0.513 | 0.093 |
10 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 1'32.545 | 0.540 | 0.027 |
11 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 1'32.553 | 0.548 | 0.008 |
12 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'32.558 | 0.553 | 0.005 |
13 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'32.603 | 0.598 | 0.045 |
14 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 1'32.605 | 0.600 | 0.002 |
15 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1'32.638 | 0.633 | 0.033 |
16 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'32.815 | 0.810 | 0.177 |
17 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'32.923 | 0.918 | 0.108 |
18 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'33.097 | 1.092 | 0.174 |
19 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati | 1'33.502 | 1.497 | 0.405 |
20 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia | 1'33.977 | 1.972 | 0.475 |