Yamaha dominates day one at Misano, Vinales fastest

San Marino MotoGP - Free Practice Results 2 

Maverick Vinales led a strong opening day at the San Marino MotoGP for Yamaha as the Japanese firm filled four of the top five positions in free practice two at Misano.

The Spaniard – third fastest in FP1 – set the benchmark of the day with a 1m 32.775s lap to usurp M1 counterpart Fabio Quartararo on the Petronas SRT bike.

Quartararo might have been quickest of all had he not almost been caught out with a couple of front-end moments though he remained only a tenth shy of his stablemate.

With Valentino Rossi fourth best on the updated Yamaha M1 – complete with new twin exhaust and carbon brakes – and fellow Italian Franco Morbidelli in fifth position, only champion-elect Marc Marquez could slot between them in third position on the Repsol Honda. However, the quartet were split by eight tenths.

KTM and Aprilia in the hunt at Misano

In sixth, Pol Espargaro completed a strong opening for the factory KTM team, ahead of Danilo Petrucci in seventh and Andrea Dovizioso in tenth. 

However, they slip to eighth and tenth respectively on the combined timesheets – which determined who progresses to Q2 after FP3 – with Ducati’s Michele Pirro and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro’s FP1 efforts enough to keep them in the hunt in seventh and ninth.

British MotoGP winner Alex Rins sits 11th in the combined standings, ahead of Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco, the Frenchman enjoying one of his more positive starts to a race weekend.

Elsewhere, it was a tough day for Jack Miller well down in 16th, while Jorge Lorenzo was still a lowly 17th but certainly more involved in a tight session as he continues his recovery charge.