MotoGP Race And Practice Results

The Saturday morning session started off light, teams working on race pace in the beginning, only a few riders here and there improving their Friday times early on, including Valentino Rossi, his pal Aleix Espargaro and teammate Maverick Viñales.

With eight minutes to go, the fight for a place in the top ten heated up as usual and the world championship leader was the first to put the fight talk on track and set a 1:32.4, the fastest time of the weekend so far. That meant Marc Marquez led both the session and the combined practice times.

Jorge Lorenzo was the first to reply, the world champion almost two tenths off, followed by Maverick Viñales and Pol Espargaro, but even with yet another tow from Marquez, the Tech 3 rider didn’t improve on his Friday time. Dani Pedrosa was another rider who could not improve from FP2, the Honda rider taking a harmless tumble in turn fifteen on an outlap and finishing ninth in the session.  Still the Spanish trio sits pretty in the combined times, with Espargaro third, Pedrosa fourth and Viñales fifth.

Back in the Ducati camp, Michele Pirro was the session’s fastest red bike in seventh place, but ninth overall. Andrea Dovizioso’s FP2 time also grabbed him sixth in the combined times, as Andrea Iannone was declared unfit for the rest of the weekend. 

Early improver Valentino Rossi dropped back to eighth in the combined times, behind Cal Crutchlow, with Pirro separating him from Aleix Espargaro in the tenth and final Q2 spot. 

Towards the end of the session the heat got too much to handle and several other riders joined Pedrosa on the gravel visitors list, including Danilo Petrucci, Jack Miller, Crutchlow and Alex Lowes.

After the session, Ducati decided that Pirro will replace Iannone instead of wildcarding, which makes his FP3 time irrelevant, the Italian rider having to go through Q1 on Iannone's bike. That bumps up Alvaro Bautista in the final Q2 spot.

Results:

Johann Zarco started the session at the top before Takaaki Nakagami built up momentum to lead another session on the Adriatic coast. The Japanese rider’s domination in the final sector kept Zarco’s attempts at bay until the end, registering a red hot last lap that put him over three tenths over the championship leader and the only rider into the 1:37s.

Much like in the morning session, Lorenzo Baldassarri left it late to challenge the top three but managed to put in a fast final lap that placed him one tenth off Zarco. Alex Rins and Thomas Luthi were next best, although Luthi failed to improve on this FP1 time.

The warm weather saw some close times throughout the field, less than two tenths separating Luthi in fourth and Alex Marquez in thirteenth position. Right ahead of the Spaniard sneaked in Sam Lowes, the British rider joining the track late after the team took some time changing gear sprockets early in the session.

Results:               

With the track reaching over forty degrees as the afternoon sessions started, the Moto3 grid struggled to reach the morning times but had a good look at the tyres in potential race conditions.

Otherwise, the lap cancellation festival continued. Morning leader Enea Bastianini looked in good form despite some cancelled lap times of his own seeing him linger towards the end of the top ten before a final charge that gave him back top spot on the timesheets.

With the electrical issue that shortened his morning session solved, Brad Binder went back out on a mission, the endeavour successful in bringing him back to second position but also seeing several times cancelled for going out wide in the last turn.

Much like the morning session, some of the biggest challengers proved to be Joan Mir in third spot and Jakub Kornfeil in fourth, although the duo was around half a second slower than the top two riders.

Fabio di Giannantonio and Jorge Navarro kept close too, only two hundreds of a second separating them from fourth position. On the other hand, Pecco Bagnaia lost a lot of track time with a clutch problem, only putting in eight laps before the issue put an end to his session.

Results:               

A toasty (at least by Silverstone standards) twenty-four degrees welcomed the MotoGP class in Misano, the riders using the session to get used to the new construction of the front tyres brought by Michelin.

Very close times at the top saw homeboy/man Valentino Rossi take a popular late lead of the session, a tenth ahead of another Yamaha – a top two that seems predictable but what is less predictable is the name of that second Yamaha rider: Pol Espargaro. The Spaniard had a fantastic start to his weekend, constantly challenging at the top of the timesheets and leading several times.

Initial questions about the Suzuki’s ability to handle the heat seem to have found an answer, with Silverstone victor Maverick Viñales in third position, although his teammate ended up just outside of the top ten.

Marc Marquez had a Marc Marquez session: always towards the top of the timesheets but also literally came to a halt in the middle of turn ten, after tucking the front and sliding off gently, the Spaniard remounting to come back to the pits. The final run grabbed him fourth spot, some two tenths behind Rossi.

Jorge Lorenzo kept real close in fifth spot, five hundreds of a second down on Marquez and only one hundredth ahead of Dani Pedrosa, the Honda rider even enjoying some time at the top in a sunny (literally and metaphorically) start to his weekend.

The Ducatis had taken an early lead with Andrea Dovizioso and Michele Pirro, the two eventually finishing seventh and fourteenth, while Andrea Iannone suffered a fast crash in turn thirteen, only having completed four laps and missing the rest of the session.

With Lorenzo as a tour guide, Hector Barbera made it into the top eight, followed by Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding, the top ten covered by only half a second.

The combination of new tyres and new tarmac saw several fast crashes not only for Iannone but also Laverty, Petrucci and Rabat, with an unusual number of cancelled lap times for track limits infringements.

Results: