Takaaki Nakagami fastest in the opening practice of Italian MotoGP

Takaaki Nakagami dominated the first practice session of the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Mugello after putting in a strong late effort on used medium tyres.

Throughout the 45-minute test, the LCR Honda rider was at the front of the pack, sitting just fractions behind joint leaders Aleix Espargaro and Francesco Bagnaia before the Japanese ace took the lead with a time just 0.030s faster than the two.

Not willing to rest on his laurels, Nakagami clocked a 1:46.662s tour in the final minutes to extend his lead to nearly four tenths of a second, a time made all the more intriguing by the fact that it was set on used medium rubber.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro finished second, ahead of Bagnaia, with Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini rounding out the top five.

Espargaro’s teammate at Aprilia, Maverick Vinales finished sixth overall, ahead of Jack Miller of sister factory Ducati, with Honda’s Pol Espargaro in eighth place.

Johann Zarco finished ninth on his newly-branded Pramac Ducati after the team signed a championship sponsorship contract with Italian insurance giant Prima, providing a splash of purple to Pramac’s customary white and red livery. Meanwhile Luca Marini completed the top 10 on his VR46-run Ducati.

Fabio Quartararo, the series leader, finished 11th after testing Yamaha’s new aero solution for the first time, with the Japanese manufacturer seeking for a little extra straight-line speed down Mugello’s massive main stretch.

Michele Pirro, the Ducati test rider, was 12th fastest in his first start of 2022, while Joan Mir, the 2020 MotoGP world champion, finished 15th on the other Suzuki GSX-RR.

As troubles continued to plague KTM, Brad Binder was the highest-classified RC16 in 17th slightly ahead of teammate Miguel Oliviera, who escaped a harrowing run through the grass on the run to Turn 1 early on after seemingly being caught out by Espargaro’s Aprilia’s aerowash effect.

Marc Marquez finished 19th overall on his factory-run Honda, with Andrea Dovizioso 21st overall on the first of the RNF Yamahas, ahead of Lorenzo Savadori, who wore an unusual rear flap on the back of his Aprilia in an attempt to get the RS-GP over the hump on the run to Turn 1.

ITALIAN MOTOGP, MUGELLO – FREE PRACTICE (1) RESULTS

POS	RIDER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/DIFF	LAP	MAX
1	Takaaki Nakagami	JPN	LCR Honda (RC213V)	1’46.662s	18/19	347k
2	Aleix Espargaro	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP)	+0.408s	12/18	353k
3	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Ducati Lenovo (GP22)	+0.408s	8/16	350k
4	Alex Rins	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+0.409s	10/20	352k
5	Enea Bastianini	ITA	Gresini Ducati (GP21)	+0.524s	13/17	355k
6	Maverick Viñales	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP)	+0.529s	15/18	352k
7	Jack Miller	AUS	Ducati Lenovo (GP22)	+0.653s	18/20	351k
8	Pol Espargaro	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+0.705s	17/19	350k
9	Johann Zarco	FRA	Pramac Ducati (GP22)	+0.705s	15/21	354k
10	Luca Marini	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)	+0.721s	16/19	350k
11	Fabio Quartararo	FRA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+0.731s	9/21	348k
12	Michele Pirro	ITA	Ducati Test Rider (GP22)	+0.770s	4/16	348k
13	Alex Marquez	SPA	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+0.900s	17/20	356k
14	Marco Bezzecchi	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)*	+0.922s	9/19	351k
15	Joan Mir	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+0.996s	10/20	348k
16	Franco Morbidelli	ITA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+1.065s	5/20	345k
17	Brad Binder	RSA	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+1.084s	20/20	352k
18	Miguel Oliveira	POR	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+1.158s	6/20	350k
19	Marc Marquez	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+1.213s	5/17	345k
20	Jorge Martin	SPA	Pramac Ducati (GP22)	+1.241s	16/17	352k
21	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)	+1.416s	10/18	348k
22	Lorenzo Savadori	ITA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP)	+1.591s	5/18	352k
23	Fabio Di Giannantonio	ITA	Gresini Ducati (GP21)*	+1.673s	7/17	348k
24	Darryn Binder	RSA	WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)*	+2.248s	18/18	354k
25	Raul Fernandez	SPA	KTM Tech3 (RC16)*	+2.249s	12/18	346k
26	Remy Gardner	AUS	KTM Tech3 (RC16)*	+2.298s	7/16	345k