Michele Pirro took the lead in the San Marino MotoGP. The Ducati test rider was a constant presence at the top of the timesheets in the first free practice in Misano and even managed to hold onto it at the end. In this session, lap times are less relevant, as it is one of the two that riders and teams have to prepare without worrying about the stopwatch. Miguel Oliveira was 18th.
The first leader was Pirro (Aruba.it Ducati), with a 1.080s lead over Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), but four riders only completed their first timed laps a little later. Pirro then solidified his position at the top, but Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) moved into second.
Times continued to drop, but in the early minutes it was Pirro who stood out. Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM) reached second place, with the test riders making an impression. The Spaniard was later overtaken by Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), and the leaderboard stabilized for a few minutes.
With 19 minutes to go before the checkered flag, there was a new leader, with Pedrosa beating Pirro by 56 thousandths.
With Misano hosting a test day on Monday, some of the test riders present as wildcards in the GP took the opportunity to try out solutions on the bikes. An example of this was the new rear of the Honda RC213V ridden by Stefan Bradl, but also KTM presented new features on the RC16.
Pedrosa remained at the top until less than five minutes before the end when he was surpassed by Martín. Several riders improved in this phase, including Pirro who returned to the lead.
Until the end, no one was able to beat the Italian, with Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) being the closest to do so, at 0.115s. Martín was third, Bezzecchi finished fourth, and Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) closed the top five. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), the championship leader, finished 20th.
Until the end, no one managed to beat the Italian, with Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) being the closest to do so, at 0.115s. Martín was third, Bezzecchi finished fourth, and Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) closed the top five.
After spending the first few minutes among the top ten fastest more than once, Oliveira did not improve his time for most of the session. He did make progress in the last few laps but concluded in a distant 18th place. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), the championship leader, was 20th, dealing with some pain and discomfort from the injuries suffered last Sunday in Barcelona.
