MotoGP

What went on in frantic second Mugello MotoGP practice

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
4 min read

MotoGP championship leader Pecco Bagnaia ended Friday practice at Mugello on top, with several big names consigned to contesting the first segment of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.


Key moments:

> Bagnaia and Bezzecchi out front

> Six Ducatis in top 10

> Marquez in Q2 despite crash

> Vinales, Quartararo among those set for Q1


Bagnaia had been only 16th in the opening session, albeit by virtue of not having run the soft rear tyre – and he was fast once he did bolt it on for the second session, ending up 0.063s clear of Bezzecchi.

His best lap, a 1m45.436s, was just a quarter of a second off the lap record held by Fabio Quartararo.

It was another Ducati-dominated session for most of it, the Bologna marque holding an initial 1-2-3-4-5 and eventually ending up with the top two spots with Bagnaia and his closest championship rival, VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi.

But Alex Rins did fire in a remarkable lap for third place on his LCR-run Honda, and Brad Binder escaped a trip to Q1 at the very last second to place fourth for KTM.

Of the six remaining automatic Q2 spots, four went to Ducatis – the Pramac duo of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco, and the injured pair of Luca Marini (VR46, coping with thumb ligament damage) and Enea Bastianini (factory Ducati, returning from a long absence with a broken shoulder).

The other riders to secure tickets to Q2 were Honda’s Marc Marquez and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Marquez had chosen to follow Maverick Vinales on his first soft-tyre time attack, but fell while chasing after the Aprilia through the Biondetti sequence. Yet he legged it back to the pits and followed Vinales again, this time producing a Q2-worthy laptime.

Meanwhile, Espargaro – suffering from the after-effects of what has now been confirmed as a cycling crash on Thursday – gathered it all together for a last-second attempt to eliminate none other than Vinales from the top 10.

RNF Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez was fifth after the first round of soft-tyre flying laps, but was ultimately relegated to 12th, just missing out on his first-ever Q2 berth.

First-session pace-setter Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was 13th, and will be one of the high-profile Q1 participants in a list that also includes Jack Miller (KTM) and Quartararo (Yamaha).

Quartararo, second in practice one, seemed to be caught out by late yellow flags caused by Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati), who had gone to pass Rins at San Donato at the start of a flying lap and crashed – then finding himself openly berated by Rins for the move.

The other crashes in the session came from the usual suspects, meaning the Hondas – with both Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Joan Mir hitting the deck.

Practice 2 Results

Pos Name Team Bike Gap Next Gap Leader Best Time
1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1m45.436s
2 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati +0.063s +0.063s 1m45.499s
3 Alex Rins LCR Honda CASTROL Honda +0.018s +0.081s 1m45.517s
4 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.037s +0.118s 1m45.554s
5 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac Racing Ducati +0.016s +0.134s 1m45.57s
6 Enea Bastianini Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati +0.065s +0.199s 1m45.635s
7 Johann Zarco Prima Pramac Racing Ducati +0.027s +0.226s 1m45.662s
8 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.029s +0.255s 1m45.691s
9 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.093s +0.348s 1m45.784s
10 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati +0.051s +0.399s 1m45.835s
11 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.011s +0.41s 1m45.846s
12 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia +0.006s +0.416s 1m45.852s
13 Alex Marquez Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati +0.076s +0.492s 1m45.928s
14 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.234s +0.726s 1m46.162s
15 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.076s +0.802s 1m46.238s
16 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.066s +0.868s 1m46.304s
17 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati +0.243s +1.111s 1m46.547s
18 Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia +0.018s +1.129s 1m46.565s
19 Michele Pirro Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati +0.263s +1.392s 1m46.828s
20 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM +0.186s +1.578s 1m47.014s
21 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda +0.06s +1.638s 1m47.074s
22 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.759s +2.397s 1m47.833s
23 Joan Mir Repsol Honda Team Honda +1.01s +3.407s 1m48.843s
24 Jonas Folger GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM +0.317s +3.724s 1m49.16s
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