Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini proved to be the fastest rider when it came to producing a time attack in the final minutes of Misano MotoGP FP2 as Ducati took the top four spots in the session.
Bastianini placed behind his 2023 teammate Francesco Bagnaia during the final minutes of the session and though Bagnaia went fastest, his lead was short-lived as Bastianini crossed the finish line with a timing that was a tenth faster.
His benchmark time of 1m31.517s meant he would win the practice ahead of Bagnaia, whose current teammate Jack Miller and Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco rounded out the top four.
Zarco and Bagnaia both recovered from crashes that occurred earlier in the session, the latter at Turn 1 and the former at Turn 13. Bagnaia now faces a three-place grid penalty as a result of getting in the path of Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) and Bastianini late in FP1.
Fabio Quartararo, who is now leading the championship, finished fifth and fell just 0.006s shy of stopping Ducati’s 1-2-3-4 finish. Maverick Vinales finished sixth for Aprilia, which was quite amazing since he hadn’t improved on a new soft rear by the end of the practice. Despite this, he finished ahead of teammate Aleix Espargaro by 0.047s.
Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati), Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha), and Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) finished in the top 10, despite Marco Bezzecchi having his best lap time cancelled due to track limits. The deletion of a lap for his VR46 teammate Luca Marini was also costly since it caused him to fall outside the top 10.
Alex Rins and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira both crashed, with the Suzuki rider engaging a marshal in a tense altercation as a result. Both of them run the risk of competing in Q1 given the likelihood of rain during Saturday’s practice.
Kazuki Watanabe, Suzuki’s Joan Mir replacement, was once again last but improved his position by gaining ground on the field and almost missing the 105 percent cut-off.
SAN MARINO MOTOGP, MISANO – FREE PRACTICE (2) RESULTS
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/DIFF | LAP | MAX | |
| 1 | ^6 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21) | 1’31.517s | 18/19 | 299k |
| 2 | ^4 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +0.114s | 12/13 | 299k |
| 3 | ˅1 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +0.185s | 19/19 | 297k |
| 4 | ^6 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.320s | 16/17 | 296k |
| 5 | ˅4 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.326s | 21/21 | 293k |
| 6 | ˅1 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.365s | 14/20 | 298k |
| 7 | ˅3 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.412s | 20/20 | 298k |
| 8 | ^12 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.649s | 18/19 | 297k |
| 9 | ^4 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)* | +0.674s | 21/21 | 298k |
| 10 | ^7 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.725s | 18/18 | 293k |
| 11 | = | Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.784s | 18/19 | 294k |
| 12 | ^6 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.813s | 14/17 | 295k |
| 13 | ˅1 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.841s | 18/19 | 296k |
| 14 | ˅6 | Alex Rins | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.848s | 17/17 | 295k |
| 15 | ˅1 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +0.901s | 21/21 | 294k |
| 16 | ˅1 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +1.049s | 21/21 | 292k |
| 17 | ^5 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21)* | +1.139s | 17/17 | 297k |
| 18 | ˅15 | Michele Pirro | ITA | Aruba.it Racing (GP22) | +1.156s | 16/19 | 294k |
| 19 | ˅10 | Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | +1.232s | 8/19 | 298k |
| 20 | ˅4 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) | +1.377s | 16/22 | 292k |
| 21 | = | Stefan Bradl | GER | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +1.461s | 12/19 | 292k |
| 22 | ˅3 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +1.683s | 18/19 | 293k |
| 23 | = | Remy Gardner | AUS | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +2.042s | 17/17 | 290k |
| 24 | = | Darryn Binder | RSA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)* | +2.091s | 19/19 | 294k |
| 25 | = | Kazuki Watanabe | JPN | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +4.502s | 23/23 | 290k |
