Bagnaia Dominates Mugello Friday Practice Amid Marquez’s Strong Performance and Rookie Highlights in 2024 Italian MotoGP

Results from Friday's practice sessions at the 2024 Italian MotoGP in Mugello, the seventh event in the 21-race 2024 world championship series.

* Novice

Francesco Bagnaia leads the way in Friday's practice sessions for the 2024 Italian MotoGP at Mugello, with Yamaha's Alex Rins putting in a strong performance to follow closely behind.

However, Quartararo's teammate Fabio Quartararo and Brad Binder from KTM, who had his fastest lap invalidated for exceeding track boundaries, are set to participate in the first qualifying session.

Dominating the morning session, Marc Marquez quickly ascended to the forefront in the afternoon by clocking the weekend's initial lap under 1 minute and 45 seconds.

The Gresini Ducati GP23 competitor maintained the lead over Rins, who had difficulty recovering from this morning's crash, during the central portions of the race.

Eager to evade making it to Qualifying 1 for the third time in a row, Marquez successfully advanced straight to Q2, securing the fifth position.

Alex, who is Marc's junior, openly expressed his irritation for being delayed by Bagnaia during the final moments, prompting an inquiry into the matter.

The current two-time champion dismissed any doubts by registering a time in the ‘44s with just three minutes left, establishing a lead of nearly half a second ahead of the competition.

Newcomer Pedro Acosta made a remarkable recovery from a crash at a speed of 160km/h, when he lost control at the front entering the Biondetti chicane mid-race, to secure a third-place finish for GASGAS Tech3.

Miguel Oliveira showcased an impressive performance, finishing fourth and leading the Aprilia team for Trackhouse, while team members Vinales and Aleix Espargaro both made it into the top ten.

Wildcard rider Pol Espargaro matched the all-time MotoGP speed record of 227.5 mph (366.1 km/h) set by his KTM teammate Brad Binder, achieving this feat early in the afternoon and finishing 18th.

* Newcom

Maverick Vinales leads the way for Aprilia in Friday's morning session at the 2024 Italian MotoGP in Mugello.

On Thursday, Marc Marquez, who dismissed any speculation of moving to Pramac Ducati in 2025, led the session for a significant duration, utilizing soft front and medium rear tyres, until newcomer Pedro Acosta and subsequently Vinales surpassed him.

Similar to Vinales, Fabio Quartararo, who previously teamed up with Yamaha, used fresh tires to secure a runner-up position late in the game, while Franco Morbidelli of Pramac Ducati took the third spot.

Acosta lost control and went off the track at Turn 10 during the middle of a corner while he was recording the fastest sector times towards the session's end, finishing in fourth place.

Title contender Jorge Martin, expected to secure the role as Francesco Bagnaia's teammate at the factory Ducati team for 2025, finished fifth in the first free practice session, while the current two-time champion placed ninth.

Riders from Yamaha and Honda enjoyed an advantage from recent exclusive tests at Mugello, thanks to special permissions.

Alex Rins, Quartararo's team member, held the fastest time before he crashed at Turn 1, just ten minutes in. He hobbled off the circuit, the same location where he sustained a severe leg fracture the previous year.

Joan Mir, Luca Marini, and Takaaki Nakagami have been equipped with the latest RC213V fairing, initially introduced by Johann Zarco in Barcelona the previous weekend.

In Spain, the Repsol competitors were equipped with an alternate engine setup.

In his first wild-card appearance for KTM, Pol Espargaro kicked off the weekend ranked 15th.

Showers are expected to pose a risk over the entire weekend.

Brad Binder achieved a new MotoGP speed milestone by reaching 227.5mph/366.1km/h in the previous year's Mugello sprint race.

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