Johann Zarco

Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco returns to the top by leading a wet opening practice session for MotoGP’s return to Misano at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, while fellow Ducati rider and title contender Francesco Bagnaia suffered a late fall. Factory Ducati’s Jack Miller led for the majority of the session ahead of factory team-mate Bagnaia, with Zarco moving to the top with seven minutes remaining. Zarco, who has struggled to repeat his early season podium run and recently underwent arm pump surgery, improved his time further to pull a big 1.4s clear of nearest rival Marc Marquez, who popped ahead of Miller on his final lap. Late improvements also moved Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli to fourth and fifth, ahead of Bagnaia, who had lowsided at the end of the back straight. World championship leader Fabio Quartararo may have stayed upright but the Frenchman’s Yamaha again looked twitchy in the wet on his way to 18th place, 3.1s behind Zarco. Quartararo has his first chance to win the MotoGP title this weekend, providing he can keep his 52-point lead over Bagnaia to at least 50-points on Sunday. There were early accidents for Alex Marquez and Brad Binder, plus a technical issue in the pits for Aleix Espargaro, who had been fastest at the Misano post-race test. Local hero Valentino Rossi is competing in his final Italian round before retirement. Bagnaia won last month’s first Misano round, ahead of Quartararo and Enea Bastianini. The tyre allocation will be the same for this weekend, but temperatures are cooler and more rain is expected throughout Friday. EMILIA ROMAGNA MOTOGP, MISANO – FREE PRACTICE (1) RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) 1’42.374s 19/19 295k 2 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +1.417s 20/20 291k 3 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +1.625s 6/15 292k 4 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +1.667s 19/19 293k 5 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.680s 13/13 283k 6 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +1.809s 17/17 290k 7 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.869s 20/20 289k 8 Danolo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.950s 17/17 286k 9 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +2.031s 16/18 283k 10 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +2.139s 16/18 289k 11 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +2.201s 15/17 288k 12 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +2.377s 14/14 284k 13 Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +2.514s 13/13 285k 14 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +2.637s 18/18 289k 15 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +2.830s 19/19 289k 16 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +2.847s 18/20 288k 17 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +3.071s 16/19 293k 18 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +3.103s 20/20 283k 19 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +3.282s 15/15 288k 20 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +3.479s 13/15 286k 21 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +3.507s 16/16 284k 22 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +3.672s 18/18 287k 23 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +3.778s 14/14 278k 24 Lorenzo Salvadori ITA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* +4.592s 5/12 282k