Bagnaia Roars Back in San Marino: Leads Friday Practice at Misano MotoGP

Results of the Friday practice session for the 2024 San Marino MotoGP at Misano, the 13th round of the 2024 World Championship season.

* Novice

Records for the Official Misano MotoGP:

Fastest lap: Jorge Martin 1 minute 30.390 seconds (2023)

Quickest lap in the race: Francesco Bagnaia with a time of 1 minute and 31.791 seconds (2023)

Francesco Bagnaia stages a comeback to top Friday's practice session for the 2024 San Marino MotoGP at Misano.

The current world champion, still feeling the impact from an accident at Aragon on Sunday, came to his home event 23 points behind Jorge Martin in the world championship standings.

However, following an eighth-place finish earlier today, the factory Ducati rider surged to the leading position in the final moments of the afternoon session.

Marc Marquez, who won at Aragon, secured the second position in both sessions, while the defending champion of Misano, Martin, finished third

Among the GP24 racers, Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini finished in the top five, with Pedro Acosta from GASGAS being the highest-placing rider not on a Ducati.

Aleix Espargaro's opportunity to finish in the top ten was thwarted by a late crash, while Brad Binder also fell short of securing a direct spot in Qualifying 2 and will have to compete in Qualifying 1 on Saturday.

Martin is set to kick off the Sprint race on Saturday with a 23-point lead over Bagnaia and a 70-point advantage over Marc Marquez.

Acosta, Marc Marquez, Bagnaia, and Martin set the fastest times when new tires were installed in the last 15 minutes.

The newcomer from GASGAS, who found his confidence again by reverting to previous RC16 configurations at Aragon, responded quickly when Bastianini momentarily took the lead.

However, the 20-year-old later had an accident with his RC16 at Turn 8, allowing Marc Marquez to return the local Gresini team to the lead.

With six minutes remaining, Martin took action, but Bagnaia countered on his second-to-last lap.

Fabio Quartararo from Yamaha, who had a strong performance by placing fifth earlier today, experienced the loss of some aero components from his swingarm later in the day.

The Frenchman managed to stay within the top five positions until the time trials began. Despite his concerns about experiencing another 'disaster' with new tires, as had happened during testing, he ultimately secured ninth place, earning him a spot in Qualifying 2.

Joan Mir of Repsol Honda was absent from today's racing activities because he is still suffering from severe gastroenteritis.

Pol Espargaro is participating in his third race weekend of the season for KTM, while HRC's test rider Stefan Bradl is also competing as a wild-card entry this weekend.

* Novice

Authorized Misano MotoGP Statistics:

Fastest lap: Jorge Martin 1 minute 30.390 seconds (2023)

Quickest lap in the race: Francesco Bagnaia with a time of 1 minute and 31.791 seconds (2023)

San Marino Grand Prix at Misano saw MotoGP championship frontrunner Jorge Martin narrowly outpace Aragon victor Marc Marquez during the first practice session.

In the morning session, Marquez, who last won for Honda at Misano in 2021, quickly returned to leading the timesheets.

However, Martin edged out his compatriot by a mere 0.037 seconds, while KTM wild-card rider Pol Espargaro secured third place.

Franco Morbidelli of Pramac, Fabio Quartararo riding for Yamaha, and Aleix Espargaro from Aprilia rounded out the top six positions.

Current world titleholder Francesco Bagnaia, still feeling the effects of last Sunday’s collision with Alex Marquez, started his home event in eighth place.

Joan Mir from Repsol Honda will be absent from today's racing events because he is still suffering from severe gastroenteritis.

HRC test rider Stefan Bradl will be making a wild-card appearance this weekend alongside Pol Espargaro.

This season, Misano will be the venue for back-to-back MotoGP events, beginning with the San Marino Grand Prix this weekend.

A formal MotoGP test is scheduled for Monday, followed by a revisit to the Italian track for the ‘Emilia Romagna’ round, which will occur from September 20-22, replacing the India/Kazakhstan round.

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