Italian MotoGP, Mugello – Free Practice (2) Results

TIMES TO FOLLOW

* Rookie

Fastest FP1 time:
Takaaki Nakagami JPN Honda 1m 46.662s

Official Mugello MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Fabio Quartararo FRA Yamaha 1m 45.187s (2021)
Fastest race lap:
Johann Zarco FRA Ducati 1m 46.810s (2021)

Aleix Espargaro continues Aprilia’s dream run by leading Friday practice for the team’s home Italian MotoGP at Mugello, ahead of five Ducatis.

Takaaki Nakagami’s morning time was soon beaten this afternoon, with Johann Zarco leading fellow Ducati riders Enea Bastianini and Francesco Bagnaia by the midway stage of the 45 minutes.

The Frenchman fell shortly after, lowsiding on entry to the Turn 4 chicane. Although Zarco walked away unharmed, red flags were shown to clean up gravel that had been dragged onto the exit of the corner.

Alex Rins – best of the rest behind the Ducati trio – was next to tumble, in almost identical circumstances to Zarco, the Suzuki rider then sprinting away to get back out on his spare bike.

With rain a threat throughout this weekend, the closing stages of FP2 saw new soft-tyre time attacks.

Bagnaia and team-mate Jack Miller used the extra grip to move ahead of Zarco, before Espargaro – chasing Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales – edged ahead by 0.049s.

It’s not clear if Espargaro was using Aprilia’s new engine but his top speed was a match for Bagnaia and second only to Zarco, who fell for a second time at the end of the session.

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Luca Marini snatched fifth, behind Zarco, after a tow.

Many factory teams have brought aerodynamic updates for the fastest straight on the MotoGP calendar, including smaller 2021-style wings on Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha to try and boost his poor top speed and a small rear wing fitted to the back of Lorenzo Savadori’s Aprilia.

Reigning champion and title leader Quartararo was ninth (and the only Yamaha in the top 19), but the likes of Marc Marquez, Rins and Joan Mir missed the top ten and will hope for dry weather on Saturday morning to avoid Qualifying 1.

Marquez is thought to have a new chassis available for his Repsol Honda.

Quartararo leads the MotoGP standings by just four points from Enea Bastianini after the Gresini Ducati rider’s third victory of the season at Le Mans, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro just eight points from the top.

Quartararo won last year’s Mugello race after Francesco Bagnaia ed from the lead on lap 2, but can the Frenchman again compensate for his M1’s lack of speed along the fastest straight on the MotoGP calendar?

Local legend Valentino Rossi will have his #46 officially retired from MotoGP on Saturday.

The official MotoGP top speed record of 362.4km/h (225.2mph), first set by Johann Zarco at Qatar 2021, was equalled by Brad Binder at Mugello last season.

Test riders Michele Pirro (Ducati) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) are making their latest wild-card appearances this weekend.

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2022 Italian Grand Prix – MotoGP schedule (UK Time):

Friday May 27

8.55am-9.40am – Free Practice 1

1.10pm-1.55pm – Free Practice 2

Saturday May 28

8.55am-9.40am – Free Practice 3

12.30pm-1pm – Free Practice 4

1.10pm-1.25pm – Qualifying 1

1.35pm-1.50pm – Qualifying 2

Sunday May 29

8.40am-9am – Warm-up

1pm – Race