Vinales tops rain-affected Misano FP1 ahead of Mir and Bagnaia

Maverick Vinales’ second weekend as an official Aprilia rider begins in superb style as he tops a rain-affected Misano MotoGP FP1.
Maverick Vinales, San Marino MotoGP, 17 September 2021
Maverick Vinales, San Marino MotoGP, 17 September 2021
© Gold and Goose

Maverick Vinales topped FP1 for the Misano MotoGP after heavy rain affected the final ten minutes of track time. 

It was an impressive start to FP1 for both Aprilia riders as Aleix Espargaro led a 1-2 following the initial flurry of laps. 

Marc Marquez then jumped ahead of the two Aprilia’s, however, Vinales responded by going a tenth quicker than the Repsol Honda man. 

The second rider to join Vinales in setting a sub 1m 33s lap was last weekend’s maiden race winner Francesco Bagnaia, as the Italian went fastest. 

Not before long, Bagnaia was joined at the front by team-mate Jack Miller who went +0.058s slower. 

After several laps on the same tyres, Vinales continued to show his pace as he too got within a tenth of Bagnaia’ quickest time. 

Mir then went fastest for Suzuki with just under 20 minutes remaining, while improvements also came from championship leader Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins and Pol Espargaro. 

However, Mir’s stay at the top was short-lived as Vinales went fastest on his next lap.

Conditions then changed dramatically with just over ten minutes left, as heavy rain hit the Misano track. 

As the rain worsened, Aleix Espargaro was the unfortunate rider who had to endure a near full lap on slick tyres.

Conditions deteriorated even further as the checkered fell, with only Marc Marquez and Rins finishing the session out on track. 

Franco Morbidelli was 16th on his return from injury - less than a second down, while Andrea Dovizioso finished FP1 last - 2.5 seconds away from Vinales’s quickest effort. 

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