Bastianini tops San Marino GP second practice as Ducati dominates

Bastianini tops San Marino GP second practice as Ducati dominates

Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini proved to be the fastest rider when it came to producing a time attack in the final minutes of Misano MotoGP FP2 as Ducati took the top four spots in the session.

Bastianini placed behind his 2023 teammate Francesco Bagnaia during the final minutes of the session and though Bagnaia went fastest, his lead was short-lived as Bastianini crossed the finish line with a timing that was a tenth faster.

His benchmark time of 1m31.517s meant he would win the practice ahead of Bagnaia, whose current teammate Jack Miller and Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco rounded out the top four.

Zarco and Bagnaia both recovered from crashes that occurred earlier in the session, the latter at Turn 1 and the former at Turn 13. Bagnaia now faces a three-place grid penalty as a result of getting in the path of Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) and Bastianini late in FP1.

Fabio Quartararo, who is now leading the championship, finished fifth and fell just 0.006s shy of stopping Ducati’s 1-2-3-4 finish. Maverick Vinales finished sixth for Aprilia, which was quite amazing since he hadn’t improved on a new soft rear by the end of the practice. Despite this, he finished ahead of teammate Aleix Espargaro by 0.047s.

Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati), Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha), and Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) finished in the top 10, despite Marco Bezzecchi having his best lap time cancelled due to track limits. The deletion of a lap for his VR46 teammate Luca Marini was also costly since it caused him to fall outside the top 10.

Alex Rins and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira both crashed, with the Suzuki rider engaging a marshal in a tense altercation as a result. Both of them run the risk of competing in Q1 given the likelihood of rain during Saturday’s practice.

Kazuki Watanabe, Suzuki’s Joan Mir replacement, was once again last but improved his position by gaining ground on the field and almost missing the 105 percent cut-off.

SAN MARINO MOTOGP, MISANO – FREE PRACTICE (2) RESULTS

POS RIDERNATTEAMTIME/DIFFLAPMAX
1^6Enea BastianiniITAGresini Ducati (GP21)1’31.517s18/19299k
2^4Francesco BagnaiaITADucati Lenovo (GP22)+0.114s12/13299k
3˅1Jack MillerAUSDucati Lenovo (GP22)+0.185s19/19297k
4^6Johann ZarcoFRAPramac Ducati (GP22)+0.320s16/17296k
5˅4Fabio QuartararoFRAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.326s21/21293k
6˅1Maverick ViñalesSPAAprilia Racing (RS-GP)+0.365s14/20298k
7˅3Aleix EspargaroSPAAprilia Racing (RS-GP)+0.412s20/20298k
8^12Jorge MartinSPAPramac Ducati (GP22)+0.649s18/19297k
9^4Marco BezzecchiITAMooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)*+0.674s21/21298k
10^7Franco MorbidelliITAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.725s18/18293k
11=Pol EspargaroSPARepsol Honda (RC213V)+0.784s18/19294k
12^6Miguel OliveiraPORRed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.813s14/17295k
13˅1Brad BinderRSARed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.841s18/19296k
14˅6Alex RinsSPASuzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)+0.848s17/17295k
15˅1Alex MarquezSPALCR Honda (RC213V)+0.901s21/21294k
16˅1Takaaki NakagamiJPNLCR Honda (RC213V)+1.049s21/21292k
17^5Fabio Di GiannantonioITAGresini Ducati (GP21)*+1.139s17/17297k
18˅15Michele PirroITAAruba.it Racing (GP22)+1.156s16/19294k
19˅10Luca MariniITAMooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)+1.232s8/19298k
20˅4Andrea DoviziosoITAWithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)+1.377s16/22292k
21=Stefan BradlGERRepsol Honda (RC213V)+1.461s12/19292k
22˅3Raul FernandezSPAKTM Tech3 (RC16)*+1.683s18/19293k
23=Remy GardnerAUSKTM Tech3 (RC16)*+2.042s17/17290k
24=Darryn BinderRSAWithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)*+2.091s19/19294k
25=Kazuki WatanabeJPNSuzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)+4.502s23/23290k

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