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San Marino MotoGP: Vinales and Quartararo keep Marquez at bay on Day 1

Split by just 0.057sec on the combined timesheets, the two topped a session each as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ended the day in third and over three tenths down.

Maverick Vinales

Bengaluru, September 14: The first practice session of the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano circuit belonged to two men -- Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT).

Split by just 0.057sec on the combined timesheets, the two topped a session each as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ended the day in third and over three tenths down.

It was a sunny first day on the Riviera di Rimini, and it was pretty sunny for Yamaha too as the Iwata marque had all four bikes in the top five.

Home hero Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was just behind Marquez, with Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) in fifth to leave the number 93 the sole non-Yamaha in the top five.

Marquez early leader

Marquez early leader

After Quartararo kicked things off in FP1 to edge out the reigning champion, it was Marquez who was the early leader in FP2 as the FIM MotoGP Championship leader got straight down to business, closing down the rookie's FP1 advantage to just 0.018 on the combined timesheets to head the afternoon session by over four-tenths.

The likes of Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) had jumped into the overall top ten in the early stages of FP2, with Morbidelli and Rossi also improving on their FP1 times.

Quartararo rocks

Quartararo rocks

The afternoon then went quiet in terms of personal best times, the riders getting some valuable work done on different tyres to see what their preference will be for Sunday's race.

But with just over ten minutes remaining - and after a couple of close front-end moments - Quartararo was yet to improve his FP1 time and so was Vinales. The traditional FP2 time attack was forthcoming, however, and with eight minutes to go, we had plenty of movement.

Rossi moves up

Rossi moves up

Rossi moved into P3 overall on his first flying run on the soft rear, but team-mate Vinales would move the goalposts at the top as a 1:32.775 saw the Spaniard leap over three tenths clear.

Quartararo was on a personal best behind, but the rookie sensation was not quite able to match Vinales' time as the 20-year-old went a tenth off.

Dovizioso quiet

Dovizioso quiet

The Ducati Team riders had a quiet morning but both Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso then found a way into the top ten, with Vinales looking like he had P1 in the bag as the flag dropped.

Silverstone winner Alex Rins and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) just lost out on the top ten on Friday, but just 0.6sec splits Dovizioso in P10 to Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) in P21. It is all to play for in the fight for an automatic Q2 place in FP3.

(By a special arrangement with Dorna Sports)

Story first published: Saturday, September 14, 2019, 11:50 [IST]
Other articles published on Sep 14, 2019