MotoGP Italian GP: Vinales heads Quartararo in opening practice

For its home race, Aprilia has five RS-GPs on the grid with its two factory team riders, the Trackhouse Racing duo and wildcard Lorenzo Savadori.

Vinales was the best of them at the top of the timesheets in the first 45-minute practice of the Mugello weekend, the Spaniard setting a 1m46.140s on a fresh medium rear tyre in the closing stages.

He headed 2021 world champion Quartararo on the factory Yamaha, with Franco Morbidelli leading the Ducati charge on his Pramac-run GP24.

Marc Marquez set the early pace on his Gresini Ducati as he puts the rider market talk on his future to one side, the six-time MotoGP world champion posting a 1m47.002s.

Yamaha’s Alex Rins then took over moments later with a 1m46.719s, before Marquez returned to the top of the order with half an hour remaining.

Marquez’s 1m46.587s stood as the benchmark for the next 20 minutes before Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta – fitted with a new medium rear tyre – fired in a 1m46.459s.

Vinales edged ahead with a 1m46.140s five minutes later, which would cement him top spot as the chequered flag came out.

Quartararo put in a late 1m46.328s to jump up to second, with Yamaha having tested recently at Mugello.

Morbidelli completed the top three from Acosta, who crashed late on at Turn 10 while pushing for a session-best lap.

Championship leader Jorge Martin – who looks set to join the factory Ducati squad next year – completed the top five having been one of only two riders alongside team-mate Morbidelli to fit a fresh soft tyre in FP1.

Marc Marquez was sixth having stuck with the same tyres all session, while Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was seventh ahead of Rins, who suffered an early crash at Turn 1.

Francesco Bagnaia looks to extend his run of Italian GP wins to three in succession this weekend on his factory team Ducati and was ninth in FP1, with Alex Marquez 10th on the second Gresini Ducati.

The top factory team KTM was Jack Miller in 12th, while Pol Espargaro was 15th as he makes a wildcard appearance for the Austrian manufacturer at Mugello.

Luca Marini was the top Honda in 19th as the factory team HRC riders run the new aero Johann Zarco raced with last weekend at Barcelona.

Savadori was last on the fifth Aprilia.

MotoGP Italian GP - FP1 results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

1

 - 

5

Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12		Aprilia	19	1'46.140		177.897
2	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	16	+0.188 1'46.328	0.188	177.582
3	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21		Ducati	19	+0.288 1'46.428	0.100	177.415
4	P. Acosta Tech 3	31		KTM	17	+0.319 1'46.459	0.031	177.364
5	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89		Ducati	17	+0.447 1'46.587	0.128	177.151
6	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93		Ducati	20	+0.447 1'46.587	0.000	177.151
7	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41		Aprilia	18	+0.450 1'46.590	0.003	177.146
8	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	15	+0.579 1'46.719	0.129	176.931
9	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1		Ducati	16
10	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	19	+0.676 1'46.816	0.097	176.771
11	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	16	+0.771 1'46.911	0.095	176.614
12	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43		KTM	19	+0.876 1'47.016	0.105	176.440
13	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72		Ducati	20	+0.968 1'47.108	0.092	176.289
14	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	19	+0.976 1'47.116	0.008	176.276
15	P. Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	44		KTM	16	+0.993 1'47.133	0.017	176.248
16	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	17	+1.057 1'47.197	0.064	176.142
17	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88		Aprilia	18
18	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23		Ducati	19	+1.156 1'47.296	0.099	175.980
19	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10		Honda	16	+1.442 1'47.582	0.286	175.512
20	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37		KTM	17	+1.446 1'47.586	0.004	175.506
21	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30		Honda	16	+1.602 1'47.742	0.156	175.251
22	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36		Honda	18	+1.672 1'47.812	0.070	175.138
23	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	18	+1.764 1'47.904	0.092	174.988
24	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32		Aprilia	17	+1.972 1'48.112	0.208	174.652
View full results