Bagnaia Sets Record Pace Amid High Drama in Emilia Romagna MotoGP Practice

Emilia Romagna MotoGP: Bagnaia Sets Record Time While Martin Falls in Practice

Defending champion tops the leaderboard in a second session marred by accidents at Misano

Francesco Bagnaia from Ducati led the way in the second practice session of the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, while the current points leader, Jorge Martin, experienced a fall in a session that saw several crashes.

After securing the first position on the grid for the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano by establishing a new lap record two weeks prior, Bagnaia outdid himself during the sixty-minute Practice session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, setting an even faster time.

The Ducati competitor clocked in at 1 minute and 30.286 seconds, outpacing Pramac's Martin by a margin of 0.198 seconds, following the lead racer's crash at Turn 8 towards the end of the session.

He emerged as one of the seven racers who experienced a fall during the afternoon session at Misano. Despite this, he was unharmed and successfully clinched a position in Q2 for the qualifying round.

Marc Marquez secured the third position in a challenging session for the Gresini team member, who switched from his primary motorcycle to achieve his fastest lap time of 1 minute and 30.585 seconds.

Enea Bastianini ended up in fourth place after a fall towards the end, as Fabio Quartararo clinched another consecutive Q2 position, finishing fifth for Yamaha.

In the initial phase of the second practice session, Bagnaia quickly established himself as the front-runner, posting a time of 1 minute and 30.924 seconds within the first 15 minutes. He maintained his lead until Martin surpassed him with a time of 1 minute and 30.844 seconds, achieved slightly past the halfway mark of the session.

Martin improved his time to 1 minute and 30.5 seconds, but it was invalidated because he achieved it while passing through a yellow flag zone, which was activated due to Tech3 GASGAS rider Augusto Fernandez's crash at Turn 5, occurring just a bit more than 10 minutes before the session ended.

Shortly afterward, Bagnaia recorded a time of 1 minute and 30.286 seconds, a mark that remained unbeaten until the session concluded, amid a series of crashes that led to additional yellow flag interruptions.

Martin's mishap at Turn 8 occurred when he failed to maintain control of his Pramac Ducati's front end while braking for Turn 8.

Shortly after, VR46 Ducati competitor Fabio Di Giannantonio experienced a severe crash at Turn 9, resulting in him tumbling forcefully across the gravel.

Recently suffering from a left shoulder dislocation and openly acknowledging before the weekend that he was not completely fit, the incident involving the Italian has raised worries about his ability to keep competing in the Emilia Romagna GP.

If he's in condition to proceed, he'll need to participate in Q1 after finishing 13th in the Practice session.

In the second practice session, Marc Marquez appeared less at ease compared to his performance earlier today, achieving his top lap time on his second Gresini Ducati. This effort placed him in third position, just ahead of Bastianini.

Quartararo led Pramac's Franco Morbidelli, while Marco Bezzecchi secured the seventh position riding for VR46 Ducati.

Vinales led the Aprilia team by securing the eighth position, while Acosta was the sole KTM rider to make it into Q2, even after an early session fall. Espargaro rounded out the top 10, also representing Aprilia.

During the second practice session, every KTM competitor experienced a crash, beginning with Jack Miller who had an early fall, ultimately placing him in 11th position. Meanwhile, Binder encountered a crash on his last lap, resulting in him finishing in Q1 in 15th place.

Alex Marquez's session ended in 14th place due to a crash, and technical issues resulted in Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse) securing only the 16th position.

Johann Zarco led the Honda riders, finishing 12th for LCR, whereas Yamaha's Alex Rins was unable to compete due to illness.

Practice outcomes for the 2024 MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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