It was a great start to the weekend for PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team with Fabio Quartararo back on top, in the opening day of MotoGP action at Misano World Circuit Simoncelli. Quartararo set the fastest lap time across the two Free Practice sessions, while home-hero Franco Morbidelli ended the day third.
Quartararo quickly adapted to Misano’s new track surface and was the fastest man on track at the halfway point of the FP1. The Frenchman continued to improve upon his time, but his 1min 32.748secs lap was beaten in the closing minutes, which saw him claim second. Fabio showed that he’s back on top form in the afternoon session after spending all session at the sharp end of the timing screens and setting the fastest time of the day on his final lap: 1min 32.189secs.
It was a strong and consistent morning for fellow Yamaha YZR-M1 rider Moridelli, who completed 21 laps in the morning session. The Italian finished FP1 12th, after setting a fastest time of 1min 33.694secs. In the closing minutes of FP2 Franco, who is enjoying seeing some fans at his home race, looked likely to end the session fastest – but was narrowly beaten by his team-mate. His 1min 32.367secs lap saw him end the day third in the combined standings.
The third MotoGP Free Practice session will get underway tomorrow at 9.55am local time (3.55pm MYT), ahead of qualifying at 2.10pm local time (8.10pm MYT).
