Quartararo bites back to lead PSRT 1-2 in Emilia Romagna MotoGP FP1

Fabio Quartararo puts the trials of last weekend firmly behind him with a searing pace in FP1 for the Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano

Ollie Barstow

18 Sep 2020

Fabio Quartararo, San Marino MotoGP, 12 September 2020

2020 Emilia Romagna MotoGP - Free Practice Results (1)

Fabio Quartararo took a step towards reasserting himself in the 2020 MotoGP World Championship title fight as he prevailed in a fast-paced first free practice session for the Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano.

The Frenchman comes into the weekend under some pressure after ceding the lead of the standings for the first time this year with a DNF around the Rimini circuit a week earlier.

Even so, he remains well in range of new leader Andrea Dovizioso - just six points behind - and duly set the benchmark here with a 1m 31.721secs lap, already only three tenths shy of Maverick Vinales’ pole-winning lap record achieved six days ago.

San Marino MotoGP race winner Franco Morbidelli followed up his Petronas SRT Yamaha team-mate with an impressive lap using the hard rear tyre, shuffling down Pol Espargaro to third position as KTM got its weekend off to a solid start following a disappointing event last weekend.

Having suggested a fast start in FP1 is usually the indication of a good race result for him, the in-form Joan Mir thus appears a threat on the Suzuki after going fourth quickest, ahead of Miguel Oliveira, the Styrian MotoGP race winner showing strongly early on.

Honda ‘team leader’ Takaaki Nakagami was sixth fastest on the 2019 LCR machine ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, who was the top Ducati man. Johann Zarco placed eighth on the Avintia Ducati, with Aleix Espargaro and Pecco Bagnaia rounding out the top ten positions.

Elsewhere, Alex Marquez enjoyed arguably his strongest timed session of the year, sitting in the top ten for much of FP1 before being shuffled back to 12th in the final minutes.

Vinales was only 13th best as he gave the unusual-looking new exhaust system its race weekend debut on the Yamaha.

Meanwhile, Alex Rins had a wild FP1 session after almost being flicked into the air by his almost high-siding Suzuki at Turn 5 early on, before going on to drop it altogether with a low-side at Turn 8 only 15mins later.