Francesco Bagnaia, the current MotoGP champion, finished first in Friday’s practice session at Mugello, with Yamaha’s Alex Rins in second. Bagnaia’s lap time of 1m44.938s was over a quarter of a second faster than the rest of the pack, just a little below the new track record. However, Bagnaia is currently under investigation for obstructing Alex Marquez during the session. Despite this, Yamaha’s strong performance at Mugello continued, with Rins showing his speed and rookie Pedro Acosta securing a spot in Q2. Acosta’s earlier crash did not hinder his progress. KTM’s Brad Binder also had a promising lap time, but was excluded due to track limits. Trackhouse Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira had his best showing of the season so far, finishing in fourth place. Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez managed to avoid elimination from Q1 with the fifth fastest time. Other notable performances came from Enea Bastianini, Jorge Martin, and Alex Marquez, all riding Ducatis. Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro secured the last spots in Q2 with their Aprilias. Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo finished a quarter of a second behind Rins, narrowly avoiding participation in Q1. Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami had an impressive performance, outpacing his RC213V teammates by over four tenths of a second.
