Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) kicked off the Gran Premio TISSOT dell'Emilia Romagna e della Riviera di Rimini at the top of the timesheets after setting a 1:31.721 in MotoGP™ FP1. The Frenchman led teammate and San Marino GP race winner Franco Morbidelli by less than a tenth, with Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) sitting inside the top three after the opening 45-minute stint of the weekend.
The fightback starts here! ????@FabioQ20 fastest on Friday morning at Misano! ????#EmiliaRomagnaGP ???? pic.twitter.com/vuojlB2Iu3
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) September 18, 2020
It was a rapid session on Friday morning for the premier class riders, Quartararo’s quickest time just three tenths away from Maverick Viñales’ (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) lap record set in Q2 last weekend. The fast times came at the end of the session as most of the riders slotted in some soft Michelin rubber, with Quartararo coming out on top in the mini time attack period. Second place Morbidelli set his best time on the hard rear tyre, a very promising sign for the Italian who showed no signs of lacking speed after missing the test on Tuesday.
No saving that one! ????@Rins42 loses the front end of his @suzukimotogp machine at Turn 8, but is unhurt! ????#EmiliaRomagnaGP ???? pic.twitter.com/72Thnn2sb4
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) September 18, 2020
Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), third at Misano last Sunday, was fourth fastest. Teammate Alex Rins had an eventful session, he escaped a nasty highside with just under 25 minutes remaining, the Spaniard was spat out of his seat a couple of times on the exit of Turn 5 – Rins lucky to stay on. However, Rins did then crash in FP1 with 12 minutes to go as he headed out on fresh tyres – rider ok. Mir was 0.205 off Quartararo’s pace, with Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) making it two RC16s inside the top five in FP1 with a best time of a 1:31.965 – 0.244 away from Quartararo.
FP2 for the MotoGP™ riders kicks off at 14:10 local time (GMT+2), who will take Friday honours?
Top 10:
1. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) – 1:31.721
2. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.090
3. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.120
4. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.205
5. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 0.244
6. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.381
7. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) + 0.431
8. Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) + 0.449
9. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 0.464
10. Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) + 0.689
Click here for the full results!