Francesco Bagnaia crushed rivals in the practice session of the Italian GP; Miguel Oliveira advances to Q2 in the top four.

Francesco Bagnaia was superior in the MotoGP Italian GP practice. Competing at home, the champion of the last two years left the competition far behind this afternoon in Mugello. Miguel Oliveira achieved a tasty fourth place.

After the first flying laps, the leader was Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha). Bagnaia (Ducati) was third. Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) was the man who followed in the lead, with Álex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha) in second and Quartararo in third.

The Frenchman was then overtaken by Bagnaia and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) in the first ten minutes. The timesheet then stabilized for a few minutes. With 32 minutes to go, Acosta suffered a fall at turn 13 which damaged his bike. However, he was not injured.

💥@37_pedroacosta has gone down at T13!

Thankfully rider OK (and in a rush to the pits) 👍#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/821xwtx5JG

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2024

Change of leader with 17 minutes to go, with Viñales being 0.158s faster than Marc Márquez. Rins returned to second place with less than eight minutes remaining. At the same time, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46/Ducati) moved to fourth, displacing Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) who dropped to fifth. The table completely changed with three minutes to go, with Bagnaia becoming the new leader ahead of Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing/Aprilia) and Marc Márquez. Out of reach, Bagnaia stayed in first until the end, but Oliveira and Márquez ended up in fourth and fifth respectively: they were surpassed by Rins and Acosta. In the second half of the top ten, between sixth and tenth, also securing a spot in the second qualifying round, were Enea Bastianini (Ducati), Martín, Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati), Viñales, and Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia). A missed goal for Quartararo in 11th place, who was 0.019s behind Aleix Espargaró. Also making it to Q2 will be, among others, Brad Binder and Jack Miller from the KTM factory team, and all Honda riders. Times:

✌️ @PeccoBagnaia keeps that momentum going on home turf! @Rins42 is up to 2nd ahead of @37_pedroacosta, who bounced back from a crash earlier on 💪#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/3lpqATV0ud

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2024