Quartararo leads Morbidelli for Petronas SRT 1-2 in Emilia Romagna FP1

Fabio Quartararo started the inaugural Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Misano on top, leading a Petronas SRT 1-2 ahead of San Marino GP winner Franco Morbidelli.

The satellite Yamaha men looked to have it under control at several different points during the session, Morbidelli posting an early benchmark of 1:32.365 to lead KTM’s Pol Espargaro and Quartararo.

Several different pilots then held shifts atop the timesheets as the session reached its climax, Andrea Dovizioso first demoting Morbidelli’s M1 before Joan Mir set the first sub 1:32 of the weekend-a 1:31.926-to shoot to the head of the standings.

It was Quartararo though who held all the cards, first moving ahead of the rest with a 1:31.889, before responding to a late charge from Espargaro to bang in the session benchmark of 1:31.721-just a few tenths down on last weekend’s pole time.

RelatedPosts

Jonathan Rea considered WorldSBK retirement but wants to ‘right the wrongs’ in 2025

7 days ago

Maverick Vinales: ‘I’d already be MotoGP champion if Yamaha listened to me’

1 week ago

Morbidelli also improved late on to slot into second 0.090 down on his team-mate, while Espargaro started KTM’s Emilia Romagna event off on the right foot in third following the Austrian manufacturers tough San Marino event-in which its highest placed RC16 managed a distant tenth in the race.

Mir ended up fourth for Suzuki, while Miguel Oliveira backed up KTM’s so far improved form around Misano to complete the top five on his Tech 3-run machine.

Takaaki Nakagami meanwhile was sixth fastest on the sole LCR Honda out this weekend as Cal Crutchlow continues to recover from his arm pump surgery that caused him to miss the San Marino event.

Dovizioso ultimately slipped to seventh overall ahead of Johann Zarco’s Avintia Ducati-the Frenchman receiving an updated frame for his GP19 for this event-with the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro ninth.

Francesco Bagnaia completed the top ten on his Pramac Ducati, leading the factory example of Danilo Petrucci in 11^th while team-mate Jack Miller could only muster up 15^th.

Alex Marquez put in an improved showing thanks to a handy slipstream from Nakagami-the factory Honda racer classified 12^th just ahead of the first of the factory Yamaha’s of Maverick Vinales.

Valentino Rossi was even further behind the eight-ball, the seven-time premier class champion only 17^th behind Alex Rins on the second GSX-RR.

Rins suffered a particularly messy session, having got caught out by his machine twice in the 45 minute session.

He narrowly avoided a major high-side on the exit of Turn 5-running through the gravel on the exit of the bend as a result-before tucking the front of his bike into Turn 8 in the latter part of the test.