2021 Emilia Romagna MotoGP, Misano – Warm-up Results

Takaaki Nakagami leads a damp morning warm-up for the Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano, ahead of title contender Francesco Bagnaia.

Nakagami, something of a warm-up specialist this season, was quickest for most of the session, fighting back when Bagnaia and Franco Morbidelli burst ahead before Jack Miller snatched a late third.

After rain throughout Friday and Saturday morning, there was more overnight rain before Sunday dawned with bright sunshine and a clear blue sky.

But due to the cool temperatures, risky damp patches remained as the MotoGP riders took to the track for warm-up, many riders starting on wet tyres before switching over to slicks.

Fabio Quartararo – who has his first chance to win the 2021 MotoGP title today, providing he can keep his 52-point lead over Bagnaia to at least 50-points – waited until the final ten minutes to appear, eventually finishing the session in eleventh.

Quartararo will start a career-worst 15th after strugglng in the kind of damp qualifying conditons he (and the Yamaha) ‘hates’, with Bagnaia on pole position.

No further rain is forecast and this afternoon’s race should be the first fully dry MotoGP session of the weekend.

Bagnaia won last month’s first Misano round, ahead of Quartararo and Enea Bastianini, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro then quickest at the post-race test. 

The tyre allocation is the same for this weekend, meaning teams have plenty of dry set-up data despite this weekend’s rain.

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Local hero Valentino Rossi will start his final Italian round before retirement from last position after struggling in the damp qualifying.

Aprilia wild-card Lorenzo Savadori has been ruled of the remainder of this event, and a planned Portimao wild-card, after fracturing his collarbone in FP3.

* Rookie

Official Misano MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Maverick Vinales SPA Yamaha 1m 31.007s (2020)
Fastest race lap:
Enea Bastianini ITA Ducati 1m 32.242s(2021)

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