San Marino MotoGP, Misano – Free Practice (2) Results

* Rookie

Key:
^X Rider is X positions higher than FP1.
= Rider is same position as FP1.
˅X Rider is X positions lower than FP1.

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 celebrates his 2023 factory contract by leading a Ducati top-four sweep during Free Practice 2 for the San Marino MotoGP at Misano.

Fabio Quartararo’s fifth-place Yamaha was the only Japanese bike in the top nine this afternoon, being followed by the Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro, then another pair of Ducatis.

Riding in bright sunshine but with rain a threat for Saturday and Sunday meant a top ten place was especially important this afternoon.

Vinales and Espargaro formed an Aprilia one-two during the middle stages, Vinales remaining the only rider in the 1m 31s until morning pacesetter and title leader Quartararo edged 0.004s under his former team-mate with 10 minutes remaining.

The Frenchman kept command until a trio of Ducatis – Enea Bastianini, Francesco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco – burst ahead in the final minute. Jack Miller then made it an all-Desmosedici top four.

Bagnaia, who will have a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after ‘riding slow on the racing line in FP1 and causing a dangerous situation for other riders’, had to switch to his spare bike for the closing stages after suffering a small fall.

Quartararo’s team-mate Franco Morbidelli enjoyed a better-than-usual Friday by claiming the final top ten place.

In addition to Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira also tumbled this afternoon.

Andrea Dovizioso’s final Friday in MotoGP ended in 20th place with Suzuki stand-in Kazuki Watanabe, riding in place of the injured Joan Mir, improving to 4.5s from the top.

Watanabe appeared to hold up Bagnaia at one stage but lapped within 105% of Bastianini, meaning he is now eligible to take part in Saturday’s qualifying.

• 2023 MotoGP World Championship – Rider line-up so far

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, providing he meets the 105% rule, 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