Marco Bezzecchi leads MotoGP Practice at Misano
Marco Bezzecchi headed Marc Marquez in Practice at the San Marino GP
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi led Marc Marquez by just 0.103s in a tight Practice on Friday afternoon at the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix, while Pecco Bagnaia was only 19th.
Renewing their duel from 12 months ago at Misano, Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez have been closely matched throughout Friday’s running.
In the hour-long Practice, it was the Aprilia rider who got the upper hand, as he produced a 1m30.144s at the end of the session to lead the way by just over a tenth of a second.
Marc Marquez held onto second ahead of younger brother Alex Marquez, as Ducati looked to be in better shape at the sharp end of the timesheets.
Championship leader Jorge Martin narrowly held onto a direct Q2 place in 10th on the sister factory Aprilia, while former Misano winner Pecco Bagnaia stumbled to 19th on his factory Ducati.
It marks his fourth successive Q1 appearance of the season.
Alex Marquez set the early pace on his Gresini Ducati with a 1m31.016s after 10 minutes of running in the afternoon session.
Bezzecchi took over top spot soon after, however, with a 1m30.792s, though this was cancelled after he exceeded track limits.
A 1m30.979s from Alex Marquez at roughly the same time put him back on top.
Bezzecchi made an early switch to a fresh soft tyre with just over half an hour to go, using that grip advantage to go fastest of all with a 1m30.829s.
He improved on this to a 1m30.807s next time around.
As the session wound down and all riders swapped to fresh soft rubber for time attacks, top spot changed hands several times.
Honda’s Luca Marini briefly led the way with a 1m30.668s, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta demoting him on a 1m30.488s.
Bezzecchi made his next bid to top the session with just over 10 minutes to go with a 1m30.331s, though Marc Marquez instantly bettered this on a 1m30.247s.
A final gambit of 1m30.144s sent Bezzecchi back to the top of the pile just as the chequered flag brought the session to a close.
Behind the top three came VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and his team-mate Franco Morbidelli, with fourth Ducatis inside the top five.
Acosta fell to sixth ahead of Marini, while Johann Zarco grabbed a Q2 place in eighth on the LCR Honda.
Tech3 KTM stand-in Pol Espargaro impressed with a run to ninth, while Martin completed the top 10.
