Determined to bounce back from a disappointing Catalan GP, Maverick Viñales led the first free practice session of the Italian GP in MotoGP this morning. His best time came in the last five minutes.
After the initial flying laps, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) was leading ahead of Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), with Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) in third.
As usual in the first minutes, the times improved significantly, resulting in changes on the leaderboard. Marc Márquez took the lead, and Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46/Ducati) moved up to second. Quartararo improved but dropped to third.
Shortly after, a new leader emerged with Álex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha) moving to the top and Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) to second. While Rins maintained the lead, Álex Márquez was overtaken by Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Raúl Fernández (Trackhouse Racing/Aprilia) by the end of the first ten minutes.
The leader of the session has crashed out at T1! 💥
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2024
Glad to see @Rins42 is up and walking 👍#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/JsvdYK5cFg
Half an hour before the end, Marc Márquez returned to the top of the timesheets, surpassing Rins who, minutes earlier, had suffered a minor crash without major consequences. The Yamaha rider was then overtaken by Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM), who placed himself 0.104s behind Marc Márquez.
Eight minutes before the end, the rookie took the lead of the session, beating Marc Márquez by 0.128s. Acosta’s leadership did not last long, as about six minutes later, Viñales (Aprilia) moved to the top and Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac/Ducati) to second. Acosta suffered a minor crash near the end, without major consequences.
Finding the limit at Scarperia ⚡@37_pedroacosta ends FP1 with a late crash 💥#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/B3LwaC4Uv9
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2024
Until the end, no one took Viñales from the lead, but Quartararo got close and finished 0.188s behind. Morbidelli was relegated to third, with the top five rounded out by Acosta and Martín. The championship leader had the same time as Marc Márquez, who finished sixth. Bagnaia ended up in ninth.
Timesheets:
Top Gun leads in FP1 🚀
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2024
Maverick takes early top honours ahead of @FabioQ20 and @FrankyMorbido12 💪#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/vhKTopkZId
