Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo set the pace in this morning’s opening free practice at the second Misano MotoGP round, heading team-mate and last Sunday’s winner Franky Morbidelli by less than a tenth with KTM’s Pol Espargaro in third place.
Quartararo, who wasn’t using the new exhaust debuted on Tuesday, set a 1’32.721 despite a 10 km/h deficit using a medium front/soft rear combination of Michelins.
However, Morbidelli set his 1’31.811 with a hard rear tyre while Espargaro, who was 0.030s behind the VR46 Academy rider, used a medium rear to mix it up even further.
Ecstar Suzuki's Joan Mir grabbed top spot with six minutes left, using a soft rear for a 1'31.926 but he slipped back to fourth place as the time attack laps began.
Miguel Oliveira put his satellite KTM into fifth place, settting a 1'31.965 on a medium/soft combination. Taka Nakagami was easily the leading Honda on a 1'32.102 with Andrea Dovizioso in seventh as leading Ducati on a soft rear.
Johann Zarco finished in eighth with Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia in ninth and Pecco Bagnaia in tenth place.
Ducati's Danilo Petrucci just headed off Repsol Honda's Alex Marquez who quicker than his test performance with a 1'32.437 in 12th place.
Maverick Vinales, complete with alphorn exhaust, finished down in 13th with a 1'32.589 on the same hard rear tyre he used all session. Brad Binder and Jack Miller completed the top 15. Binder did put in a new soft at the end of the session while Miller did the same as Vinales.
Valentino Rossi was 17th and 1.111s off the pace but was also working on race pace with the hard rear. Rossi used a medium front for his runs while Vinales used a soft.
