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Bagnaia and Quartararo rule Mugello on Day 1

For the records, it was the first time since Qatar 2008 qualifying, when Jorge Lorenzo took his debut pole ahead of Brit James Toseland, that two rookies have topped a full session.

MotoGP

Mugello (Italy), June 1: Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) stole the headlines in the Italian MotoGP practice session, with the rookies taking a 1-2 and split by just 0.046 at the top.

For the records, it was the first time since Qatar 2008 qualifying, when Jorge Lorenzo took his debut pole ahead of Brit James Toseland, that two rookies have topped a full session.

Their closest competition came from Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) as the Italian was just under a tenth in arrears in P3, with some big names outside the top ten: Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati), Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team).

Marquez sixth

Marquez sixth

FP1 leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was at at the top of the times for most of FP2, but by the end of the day, the Spaniard was down in P6.

But he looks the man in form as he aims to take his third win in a row as conditions were a stark contrast to Le Mans as the sun shone over the stunning Tuscan countryside in Mugello.

Not so Rossi!

Not so Rossi!

Home hero Rossi had a difficult day as he could manage only an 18th place finish. However, the Yamaha rider hopes to bounce back.

"It was a difficult day, I expected to be more competitive. We need to improve in other areas than just top speed, because the other Yamahas are quite fast."

Petrucci challenge

Petrucci challenge

Petrucci and Quartararo exchanged fastest times at the top, but with seconds to go there was another Italian on the march: Bagnaia, who improved drastically from a P17 in FP1 to delight the home crowd.

That pushed Quartararo down to second, but only by half a tenth, with Petrucci in P3.

Absolute stunner

Absolute stunner

With good weather forecast it should provide a thrilling time-attack from the whole grid and they are sure to play a part in the qualifying.

FP3 decides those heading straight through to Q2, before qualifying to gives us the grid for another absolute stunner at Mugello.

(By a special arrangement with Dorna Sports)

Story first published: Saturday, June 1, 2019, 12:18 [IST]
Other articles published on Jun 1, 2019