Bezzecchi tops San Marino MotoGP practice breaking lap record

Marco Bezzecchi broke the all-time lap record around Misano this afternoon as he topped the San Marino MotoGP Practice session.

VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi took the lead after breaking the two-wheeled lap record on Friday in Misano, while Marc Marquez surprised everyone by advancing directly to the second qualifying round after finishing sixth.

FP1 leader Michele Pirro’s benchmark time of 1:32.018 seconds was swiftly eclipsed by the riders, with Maverick Vinales of Aprilia posting the fastest time with his RS-GP to take the lead.

However, times continued to drop throughout the 60-minute session with no less than three other riders switching places atop the time charts.

As the session’s 60 minutes came to an end, Vinales set a benchmark with a stunning 1:30.972s, a new lap record that put him over four tenths of a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Bezzecchi, who is racing this weekend with a fractured hand suffered in the Turn 1 crash at the start of last weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix, put together a quick getaway to go fastest just as he appeared to be the favorite in claiming Friday honors.

His time of 1:30.846 seconds put him 0.116 seconds ahead of Aprilia’s Vinales. Bezzecchi maintained his lead Friday over Vinales as they were the only two riders to lap under the 1:31 mark.

Late yellows, brought on by crashes involving Raul Fernandez at Turn 14 along with Pol and Aleix Espargaro both going down at Turn 15, cost several drivers several chances to improve their fastest times.

Dani Pedrosa had a solid day with KTM in his second wildcard appearance of the year, finishing third overall and just over two tenths from the lead, ahead of Pramac’s Jorge Martin and VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini who finished fourth and fifth respectively.

As the practice session came to a close, Marc Marquez took advantage of Pedrosa’s helpful tow to clock a time good enough for sixth, guaranteeing him a spot in the pole shootout.

Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia was seventh as he continued to push through pain following his nasty Catalan crash.

Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez finished eighth, ahead of Brad Binder’s KTM, while Raul Fernandez of RNF Aprilia maintained his impressive FP1 performance to finish tenth overall and earn his first-ever Q2 spot. Fernandez lapped just 0.024 seconds quicker than GasGas’ Pol who finished eleventh.

Due to his late crash, Catalan GP winner Aleix Espargaro only managed to finish in 12th place, but he nevertheless prevailed to keep ahead of Yamaha teammates Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo, who finished 13th and 14th, respectively.

Honda’s Stefan Bradl performed well to finish the day in 15th place overall, ahead of Pirro and KTM’s Jack Miller. The Australian, who was only 17th overall despite being less than a second off Bezzecchi’s benchmark, did not fare very well.

Miguel Oliveira struggled to match junior teammate Fernandez’s speed down in 22nd place, just behind the second factory Honda of Joan Mir.

Alex Rins’ replacement on the LCR Honda team, Takumi Takahashi, continued to learn the RC213V at the bottom of the timesheets, with the Japanese rider running just over five seconds slower than Bezzecchi.

2023 San Marino MotoGP Misano World Circuit Practice Results