Recapping the MotoGP/2/3/E action from Mugello on Friday

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round Seven – Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo
MotoGP riders reflect on the opening day of practice at Mugello

Francesco Bagnaia – P1

“It was a positive day. As always, it’s fantastic to be riding here at Mugello. We managed to improve already in the morning session, in which I show a good pace with the used medium tyre. In the afternoon, with the soft used one, I also managed to be quite quick, so I’m really happy and satisfied with today. The time attack turned out to be a quite good one, albeit it wasn’t the perfect lap. It’ll be important to make a further step forward for tomorrow, but we’re on the right track.”

Alex Rins – P2

“For sure, the test helped a little bit, but it helped just in the first 15 laps of the morning session. I think that we are doing a good job since this morning. Already in Montmeló, I was able to be quite fast on one lap but honestly, here, with used tyres, I feel quite strong. Then on the last run, I was riding alone, and I saw on the pit board ‘P11’, and I said ‘No, not this time’. So, I tried to push 100%, and I did an unbelievable lap time. I’m quite happy about this. The lap honestly wasn’t perfect, there were some mistakes, so maybe we can improve some tenths, but not that much. We need to keep working on our base set-up. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, after analysing all the data.”

Pedro Acosta – P3

“It was a normal Friday for us I would say, but with two stupid crashes. The first one in the morning, we went wide, and the second one, the tyres were not warm enough, but it is all part of the learning. After the second crash, we improved our feeling a lot and we were able to get a fast lap. However, with these crashes, we were not able to focus enough on the race pace today, so it will be our focus in the morning before the qualifying, and then we will be able to see if we can be competitive in the races.”

Miguel Oliveira – P4

“Today went well. It’s obviously a nice feeling to be in the top 10 at the end of the Practice session. We made a good step with the settings on the bike, and I could feel immediately that there was good potential to do a fast lap. I managed to put everything together in the end and I’m happy to finish in the top 10. Yet, I still didn’t feel amazing and I didn’t ride as clean as I usually do but, anyway, the lap time came – I was fast. We still need to continue our work tomorrow and find a few more tenths.”

Marc Marquez – P5

“I had fun here today. I always struggled a bit here but today things went as hoped. We’re in a good place with regards to race pace, even though Pecco has something more, and we made a step forward with the time attack. Now there’s a difficult GP ahead: Q2 will be a challenga and we aim at a spot on the first two rows. We’re happy with the direct seed to Q2 and now we need to make sure it becomes a tradition.”

Enea Bastianini – P6

“The day didn’t start off well, but we made a few modifications and managed to improve. In the afternoon, we found what we were missing. Now all it’s left is that little step forward to get closer to the front. I was coming from a difficult race and needed to regain the right confidence, and it looks like that at each track we need to have a slightly different approach to the one before. Still, the base set-up is good. Pecco is the rider that currently has something extra and he’s very effective in the second sector, and we need to work in that direction. There’s still tomorrow to make that step and manage to lap under the 1’45secs barrier, but I’m happy because we’re close.”

Alex Marquez – P8

“I’m happy to be back in Q2 as so far our Fridays were not too kind. The feeling was good from the get-go, and we’ll work hard tomorrow in order to qualify on the first two rows. I lost a flying lap due to a slow rider in the racing line, but it went well and now we have a good opportunity for this weekend.”

Maverick Vinales – P9

“I feel at ease with the bike and I’m able to take it to the limit. On the fast turns, I’m able to ride extremely well and the bike has a lot of potential with the medium rear tyre. Starting from the front will be very important.”

Aleix Espargaro – P10

“I didn’t feel good on the bike, especially on the fast turns. Despite the sensations not being the best, we are all close. My race pace isn’t bad. I think it will be a group race and it will be fun.”

Fabio Quartararo – P11

“It was frustrating to finish in P11, so close to Q2. We are only about 0.1s from P3 and 0.2s from Álex. In the test, Álex was also faster than me here, so we have to analyse why that is. My feeling here today was much better than during the private test though. Like I said, making more laps with a new aero is good, it gets better. It’s nice to see that I can ride the bike in a more natural way, and I am looking forward to test in Mugello on Monday and later also in Valencia.”

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Fabio Di Giannantonio – P12

“We’re missing a few things, especially on the time attack, but overall we did a good job. This morning we had a good pace, then at the end of the session, with the tire change, the leading positions were reversed, but the feelings were good. In the afternoon, with the medium, I was competitive then, with the soft, I have struggled more. We need a step forward in the centre of the corner to hit the Q2, our target.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P14

“It wasn’t an easy day, but I knew I would struggle on the flying lap. It’s the same old problems: with new tires, I have a strange feeling, an aspect we’ve been working on for several races. The pace is not bad at all, the weather didn’t surprise us and we managed to make the most of the entire day. We’ll continue working tomorrow morning in the free practices to make another step forward.”

Raul Fernandez – P16

“I’m a bit disappointed about today. We worked so well until the last time attack. For all the session, I was inside the top 10 and I had good pace with the medium tire and good pace with the soft. In the first time attack I felt good, I was within the top 10, which was the target. On the last run we tried to change the bike a little bit and I couldn’t attack like before. I’m a bit frustrated about this because we had everything to go straight to Q2 today and I also had the potential – I saw the margin and had an idea of how to do it – but, somehow, it didn’t work. Now it’s time to clear the mind, stay positive and keep working. Tomorrow, we have another opportunity and I think we have to take Barcelona as a reference, where the first day was quite difficult and we managed to make a big step on Saturday. So, we need to stay calm, understand everything and exploit our full potential because I think we are working well.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P19

“It’s been a consistent day, as I’ve had the possibility of testing different things, which is always essential. I like the new aero package; I’ve felt better on the bike today, especially regarding top speed.

Johann Zarco – P20

“It’s been a difficult day, but I always want to look at the bright side. Testing different things helps us get information to understand our direction. We’ll try to take a step forward ahead of tomorrow’s Sprint”.

Joan Mir – P21

“We tried a new aerodynamic package today and it was positive, I’m happy with this evolution. It changes the behaviour of the bike a bit, so we need to keep working to improve the setup. Already I’m feeling better than last weekend so it’s a good starting point for the weekend. In the last two exits we were able to improve our feeling a lot, but I couldn’t put together a lap because of other riders and some small mistakes. I think our potential was a high 45, which would put us in a good position. I’m optimistic with the potential we have.”

Lorenzo Savadori – P22

“Three Aprilias in Q2, with Maverick and Aleix, along with Oliveira, is an extremely positive result. We worked on aerodynamics, weight distribution, and setup. We are focused on improving the bike constantly.”

Augusto Fernandez – P23

“It was a very hard day, probably one of the toughest so far. Since the start of the season, I have been struggling to feel confident with the bike in the fast corners, and Mugello is all about this, so logically I have not felt good at all today. We have a lot of work to do tonight to understand how we can have a better feeling with the front of the bike, reduce the vibrations, and hopefully, we can get closer to the guys, at least Jack Miller.”

Luca Marini – P24

“Everything today was better than in the test, we’ve made a step again and the feeling is much better. Unfortunately, in practice it didn’t all go to plan, so we had to adapt and we missed out to take those final tenths in our one lap speed. There’s work to do with the setting because when you change something like the aero, many things also need adjusting. Overall, our feeling isn’t as dramatic as the time sheets show so I think we can be fighting with the other Honda riders tomorrow.”

Friday MotoGP Report

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) stamped his authority on the field at the end of Friday to set a magnificent 1m44.938 and pull a quarter-of-a-second clear. However, he was also then given a three-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix race on Sunday for an incident with Alex Marquez. Bagnaia was deemed to have been slow on the racing line which disturbed the Gresini rider’s progress.

The chasing pack is led by Alex Rins, as Yamaha continued to declare its intent to fight further forward this weekend.

Rookie Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) made a brilliant recovery after a crash at Turn 13 to complete the top three. Acosta also had a tip-off in the morning, but no harm was done to the rider or pace.

Further back in fourth after a brilliant end to Friday’s proceedings was Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing), who improved late in the session to make it four different bikes in the top four as he repped for Aprilia.

After dramas on the last couple of Fridays, meanwhile, Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) had none at Mugello and will have direct entry to Q2 for the first time since the Spanish GP.

After a tough start to the day, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) found pace with a new soft rear tyre to jump to sixth on the time-sheets. Bastianini ended what was a good day for the factory Ducati team and finished ahead of Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), with the Championship leader having a slightly more muted day on the timesheets.

Alex Marquez, despite that incident with Bagnaia, also claimed his first direct entry to Q2 since the Spanish GP – taking P8 and capping off an excellent Friday for Gresini.

Viñales was shuffled down to ninth in the late rush at the end of the session ahead of Aprilia Racing team-mate Aleix Espargaro, who took the final spot inside the vital top 10 for Saturday’s qualifying.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team’s Fabio Quartararo missed out by just 0.019, in Q1 he’ll battle the likes of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder and Jack Miller, as well as Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team duo Marco Bezzecchi and last year’s polesitter Fabio Di Giannantonio.

MotoGP Practice Times

MotoGP Free Practice One

MotoGP Speeds Across Both Practice Sessions

MotoGP Championship Standings

Moto2

Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) ends Friday fastest at the Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo with a 1:50.841, but it was tight at the top with Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team) a mere 0.011s behind and MB Conveyors SpeedUp duo Fermin Aldeguer and Alonso Lopez still within a tenth.

Championship leader Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) and Roberts duelled for the top spot throughout the opening stage of the session before Chantra began to improve, the Thai rider then just able to deny both. Garcia got leapfrogged by more riders too, shuffled down to P8 by the end of play as Aron Canet (Fantic Racing), RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP’s Barry Baltus and Filip Salac (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) took fifth to seventh, respectively.

Barcelona winner Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI) will want more than P12 when action continues on Saturday, and Catalan GP podium finisher Jake Dixon (CFMoto Inde Aspar Team) is looking for a big move up from P25.

Another with much work to do on Saturday is Senna Agius, the young Australian starred last time out at Catalunya, but Mugello has not gone smoothly so far for the 18-year-old.

Moto2 Practice One Times

Moto2 Free Practice Times

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

CFMOTO Valresa Aspar Team’s David Alonso is the benchmark to beat once again on Friday at the Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo, over half a second clear of Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP).

Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) was third quickest as his quietly impressive 2024 continues, and the Japanese rider was the final competitor within seven tenths of the top.

Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) is next on the chase as the timesheets tighten up, with hundredths and thousandths measuring the gaps throughout the rest of the top ten and beyond.

Rookie Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) impressed once again in fifth as he comes into Mugello off the back of his best finish yet, with Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) forced to settle for sixth by only 0.017.

Joel Kelso was eighth on Friday, while countryman Jacob Roulstone also sneaked into the top ten.

Jacob Roulstone – P10

“We had a good first day here in Mugello. As usual, in the morning, we focused on getting used to the track and getting down to the basics. I lacked a bit of confidence with the track conditions of the morning, but in the afternoon, we felt much better. We found interesting things, the bike felt a lot better, and I feel happy with the progress we made between the morning and the afternoon!”

One to watch as the lightweight class heads back out on Saturday will be Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3), who is second in the Championship but ended P1 in 17th.

Moto3 Practice One Times

Moto3 Free Practice Times

Moto3 Championship Points

MotoE Qualifying

The FIM Enel MotoE World Championship returned for more action at the Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo with an exciting, and even briefly rain-hit, qualifying session to decide the grid. Alessandro Zaccone (Tech3 E-Racing) came out on top as his speed in 2024 continues to get even better, fresh from a podium in Barcelona. The rest had no answer for the #61 and he took his maiden MotoE pole position, 0.312s ahead of a return to the front for Lukas Tulovic (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE).

Hector Garzo is close on the chase to make it an Intact GP double completing the front row. Q1 saw the rain shower down part-way through, but by the time Q2 began it was back onto slicks and became a straight shoot-out for pole.

Heading up the second row of the grid will be Eric Granado (LCR E-Team), the Brazilian just pipping teammate and reigning World Champion Mattia Casadei. Both riders will be looking for more in Italy after crashing out of Race 2 in Barcelona. Rounding out a star-studded second row of the grid is championship leader Kevin Zannoni (Openbank Aspar Team) in sixth, looking to repeat his stellar starts from the Catalan GP.

Nicholas Spinelli (Tech3 E-Racing) lines up seventh, leaving him with work to do tomorrow to recover valuable points lost after a double DNF in Barcelona. Behind Spinelli sit both Felo Gresini MotoE riders – Matteo Ferrari and Alessio Finello. For Ferrari, 8th signifies his best qualifying of the season as finds more form and for Finello, 9th means a personal best gird slot by three places in his MotoE career.

Unable to set a time in Q2 was KLINT Forward Factory Team’s Andrea Mantovani, who topped but also crashed out of Q1 midway through the session. Rookie, Catalan GP Race 1 winner and championship contender Oscar Gutierrez (Axxis-MSI) has a mountain to climb from 15th, and will be looking to gain big and early.

MotoE Combined Qualifying Times

MotoE Speed Across All Sessions

MotoE Championship Standings