Franco Morbidelli’s (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) second homecoming of 2025 has started just as he’d have wished for as he bagged P1 on Friday morning. The #21 looked like he was going to head home a VR46 1-2 until the closing stages but nonetheless gets his San Marino GP weekend off to a flying start. Elsewhere, Yamaha’s new V4-powered YZR-M1 hit the track for the first time in a Grand Prix weekend in the hands of Augusto Fernandez (Yamaha Factory Racing Team), providing plenty of intrigue.
It was a dream start for Franky, who went P1 with a fast lap inside the last ten minutes of the session, having a quarter of a second advantage over Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). The Frenchman denied VR46 a 1-2 as Fabio Di Giananntonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) took third. Despite the strong start for both Franky and Fabio, it wasn’t without incident as Morbidelli fell on his final flying lap at Turn 10 but was OK. Fourth place went the way of Catalan GP winner Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), getting the better of Championship-leading brother Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team).
Featuring new rear aero and exhaust, Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) bagged top Honda honours in P6 for the first session of his home weekend, whilst Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was the best KTM just behind him in seventh. Making it five manufacturers inside the top eight, Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) was the best of the RS-GP machines, ahead of Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), the latter of which returns to a track for the first time where he has prior Aprilia experience.
Just before the halfway point, Yamaha’s new V4-powered YZR-M1 came to a halt at Turn 7 on the run to Quercia corner. Augusto Fernandez is wildcarding this weekend, debuting the V4 in Grand Prix-trim but a technical problem halted his rhythm in FP1 but he still finished just 1.196s from top spot in P21. Moments later, Yamaha’s day got worse as Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) crashed at Turn 16. Remounting and going out again, the Portuguese rider then crashed again at Turn 1, making for a difficult start to proceedings.
MotoGP FP1 results from Misano!