2022 San Marino MotoGP, Misano Circuit – Warm-up Results

* Rookie

Official Misano MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 31.065s (2021)
Fastest race lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 32.171s (2021)

Enea Bastianini leads a Ducati top three in warm-up for the 2022 San Marpino MotoGP at Misano.

Front row qualifier Bastianini, riding in a special white livery in tribute to late team boss Fausto Gresini, used a soft rear tyre to top the timesheets on his fifth lap as he works to repeat last year’s home podium heroics.

2023 factory team-mate Francesco Bagnaia climbed up the order to second in the closing stages, with Luca Marini third for VR46.

World champion Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha was the only non-European bike in the top nine. Maverick Vinales was the top Aprilia in fifth, while Jorge Martin and Aleix Espargaro completed a top seven covered by 0.310s.

Brad Binder was an improved eighth for KTM, followed by VR46 rookie Marco Bezzecchi (third on the grid) and the Suzuki of Alex Rins.

Jack Miller, who will start from his first pole position since 2018, was eleventh.

The hard front and medium rear tyres are expected to be the overwhelming tyre choice for the race and were duly used by most riders in warm-up. But there are rumours that some might try the soft rear.

Bagnaia will have a three-place grid penalty for the race, dropping him from second to fifth, after ‘riding slow on the racing line in FP1 and causing a dangerous situation for other riders’.

But title leaders Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro were unable to take advantage of Bagnaia’s penalty in the damp qualifying and will still be starting a row behind the Italian, winner of the last three races, in eighth and ninth.

Francesco Bagnaia arrives at his and Ducati’s home round on the crest of a wave after victories in the last three races.

That perfect run not only put Bagnaia into an elite group of three-in-a-row winners alongside Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, but transformed his title chances.

91 points adrift before the win streak began, Bagnaia is now 44 from Yamaha’s reigning champion Fabio Quartararo and just 12 behind Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Bagnaia is also the only one of that trio to have taken a prior Misano victory , in 2021, plus another podium in 2020, but he also fell from the lead of two other home races.

Last year’s late mistake not only confirmed Quartararo as world champion, but gave Marc Marquez what remains his and Honda’s most recent MotoGP victory.

The Spanish star won’t be present this weekend as he continues to recover from the fourth operation on his right arm, but Marquez made his two-wheeled return on a CBR600 at Aragon on Wednesday and HRC are hoping Marquez will be fit to make a comeback at next week’s post-race test.

Meanwhile, Misano will be the final MotoGP event for Andrea Dovizioso, Marquez’s main title rival from 2017-2019, who has decided to call an early end to a difficult season at RNF Yamaha with a farewell in front of his home fans.

The 36-year-old made his grand prix debut as a 125cc wild-card back in 2001 and has gone on to take 24 victories and 103 podiums. 15 wins and 62 podiums were in the premier-class, where he raced for Honda, Ducati and Yamaha.

Dovizioso will be replaced by Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow for the final six rounds.

Making his very first MotoGP start this weekend will be 31-year-old Japanese Superbike rider Kazuki Watanabe, who has been called up by Suzuki to replace the injured Joan Mir.

 

 

 

 

Friday September 2

8am – Moto3 FP1

8.55am – MotoGP FP1

9.55am – Moto2 FP1

12.15am – Moto3 FP2

1.10pm – MotoGP FP2

2.10pm – Moto2 FP2

Saturday September 3

8am – Moto3 FP3

8.55am – MotoGP FP3

9.55am – Moto2 FP3

12pm – Moto3 Q2

12.30pm – MotoGP FP4

1.10pm – MotoGP Q1

1.35pm – MotoGP Q2

2.10pm – Moto2 Q1

2.35pm – Moto2 Q2

Sunday September 4

8am – Moto3 warm-up

8.20am – Moto2 warm-up

8.40am – MotoGP warm-up

10am – Moto3 race

11.20am – Moto2 race

1pm – MotoGP race