Bagnaia recovers from early crash to dominate FP3, Marc Marquez 21st

Ducati's dominance continues at Mugello as sixth of the top seven were made up of Desmosedici machines, however, that doesn't tell the entire story from what was a wild session for the Italian manufacturer...  
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati MotoGP Mugello
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati MotoGP Mugello

After ending day-one as the manufacturer to beat, FP3 got off to a dismal start for Ducati. 

Francesco Bagnaia, not for the first time this weekend, got his braking all wrong at turn one as he nearly found the gravel. 

Moments later Marco Bezzecchi did find the gravel of turn one. The Mooney VR46 rider out-braked himself before tumbling over a slow speed. 

Bezzecchi’s error dragged fellow rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio into the gravel with him although the Italian managed to remain aboard his Gresini Ducati. 

Quickly becoming the Ducati show for all the wrong reasons, Jack Miller had to leave his factory machine trackside after encountering a technical issue on the approach to turn eight.

Bagnaia then messed up turn one again despite going second quickest behind Aleix Espargaro.  

Attempting to push on, Bagnaia, who was visibly on the limit since the start of FP3, suffered a big crash at turn 12 as he lost the front. 

The Italian rider’s bike barrel-rolled through the gravel before landing on top of the air fence. 

As Miller began to settle in a good rhythm, something Ducati clearly needed given their eventful session, Jorge Martin did the complete opposite as he crashed at turn 10. 

Jack
Jack

After suffering five crashes in seven races this season - one of which was not his fault - it appears as though Martin is in the middle of a crisis of confidence.

Turn one continues to be a problem for MotoGP riders…

As Maverick Vinales jumped up the order to go third, Joan Mir became the latest rider to call upon his motocross skills through turn one. 

The man he could replace at Repsol Honda, Pol Espargaro nearly followed the 2020 MotoGP champion into the gravel. 

Clearly struggling, Mir was down in 20th at the time of his mistake as Suzuki’s difficult weekend continued - Alex Rins was also outside the top ten in 15th (prior to time attack runs).

Finally bringing Ducati some good news, Bagnaia’s first time attack of FP3 was a stonking effort. The Jerez winner set a time of 1:45.393s - half a second faster than A. Espargaro. 

Putting his early fall behind him, Bezzecchi also found considerable time as he went fourth overall. 

Showing the type of form that saw him elevated to MotoGP, Di Giannantonio appeared inside the top ten for one of the first times this season. 

A brilliant qualifying run saw the Gresini rider initially move up to fifth ahead of team-mate Enea Bastianini. 

As the pace heated up at the front, Bastianini and Darryn Binder suffered late falls at the final corner. Binder’s fall was under yellow flag conditions which could see him hit with a penalty.

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One rider who couldn’t find pace was M. Marquez as the Honda rider finished 21st.  

Di Giannantonio was then bumped down to sixth as Takaaki Nakagami bolted up to P3. 

Fastest during Friday practice, Espargaro tests upgraded engine but not Formula 1-style wing

As was the case for several manufacturers, Aprilia rolled out various upgrades on day-one of the Italian MotoGP. 

A Formula 1-style rear wing was seen on test rider Lorenzo Savadori’s RS-GP22 machine, but not on Espargaro or Maverick Vinales’ bikes. 

Espargaro does not anticipate using the device until after the Catalunya test next month, however, an upgraded engine was tested by the Spaniard. 

While Espargaro’s stunning form continued on day-one, Ducati looked ominous after finishing with six bikes inside the top ten.

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