Michele Pirro led the way in FP1 for MotoGP’s return to Misano for the San Marino Grand Prix, the Italian heading countryman Luca Marini by 0.115s with Francesco Bagnaia 20th.
The Ducati test rider got straight down to business as he begins his second wildcard appearance of 2023, Pirro leading the bulk of the session on a 1:32.405s as he looked to gather data for the factory Ducati outfit’s sole rider – Bagnaia – this weekend with Enea Bastianini on the sidelines with a broken ankle as a result of his Barcelona crash.
It looked to be a battle of the testers for the top spot as KTM’s Dani Pedrosa then snuck ahead of Pirro with a 1:32.250s, though Jorge Martin later put them in their place as he recorded a 1:32.066s as the session entered its closing phase.
Pirro had a little more up his sleeve though and fired in a 1:32.018s at the death to secure the session’s scratch time, VR46 Ducati’s Marini lapping 0.115s adrift to claim second in the session while Martin’s earlier effort was enough to keep him third on the timesheets.
Marco Bezzecchi completed an all-Ducati top four on the sister VR46 entry, while Raul Fernandez illustrated promising speed for RNF Aprilia to complete the top five.
Pedrosa was shuffled down to sixth in the final reckoning ahead of factory Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales, with Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco slotting in just clear of Catalan GP victor Aleix Espargaro and Gresini’s Alex Marquez, who completed the top ten.
Brad Binder was the fastest of the full-time KTM pilot’s in 11th overall just ahead of Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, the sister factory M1 of Fabio Quartararo clocking in the 15th fastest effort.
Honda test rider Stefan Bradl ended up the best-placed of the RC213V’s in 16th only half-a-second adrift of the ultimate pace, the German wildcard only a few hundredths clear of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami but three places ahead.
Bagnaia ended up 20th overall but showed good speed throughout the session as he looked to ease himself back into the action following his nasty crash less than a week ago in Barcelona, the reigning MotoGP world champion heading both factory Honda’s of Marc Marquez and Joan Mir – who were 21st and 23rd respectively.
GasGas’ Augusto Fernandez was the only rider to go down during the test, the Spaniard falling victim to Turn 14 early on before ultimately ending the opening session of the weekend classified down in 22nd.
