2024 San Marino MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia beats Marc Marquez in tight second practice
Bagnaia leads Friday at Misano after bruising Aragon GP last week
Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia ended Friday practice at the 2024 MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix fastest of all from Marc Marquez.
The factory Ducati rider is carrying some minor injuries from his tangle with Alex Marquez in last weekend’s Aragon GP.
After a steady start to Friday at Misano in FP1, Bagnaia shot to the top of the order in a frantic second practice with a 1m30.685s putting him 0.185s clear of the field.
Gresini Ducati rider Marc Marquez was second again in the afternoon session, while championship leader Jorge Martin completed the top three.
All four championship leaders are directly into Q2 in qualifying after Enea Bastianini jumped up to fifth late on, while Yamaha will be represented by Fabio Quartararo.
Tech3 GASGAS rider Pedro Acosta set the initial pace after the opening 10 minutes of running in the hour-long session.
The rookie fired in a 1m31.700s, before improving to a 1m31.672s.
Marc Marquez would dethrone him with around 35 minutes to go with a 1m31.364s, though Acosta soon found a 1m31.301s to re-establish himself at the top of the order moments later.
As the time attack portion of second practice got under way in the final 10 minutes, Marquez edged ahead again with a 1m31.034s.
Pramac’s Martin then dipped into the 1m30s barrier for the first time this weekend with a 1m30.966s.
But this wouldn’t be enough to stop Bagnaia’s charge, the reigning world champion first producing a 1m30.885s on his factory team Ducati with three minutes to go before bettering it to a 1m30.685s next time around.
This would keep Bagnaia top of the standings as the chequered flag came out.
Marquez held onto second from Martin, while his Pramac team-mate Franco Morbidelli made a late move to fourth ahead of Bastianini.
Acosta completed the top six after his stints leading Practice despite a late crash, with VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, Quartararo - making his first Q2 appearance since June’s Dutch GP - and KTM’s Jack Miller.
The late improvement for Morbidelli forced Brad Binder out of the top 10 and into Q1.
The KTM rider will have to fight with the likes of Aleix Espargaro - who crashed his Aprilia in the closing moments - Pol Espargaro (KTM) and Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) in Q1 on Saturday morning.
Top Honda honours went to Johann Zarco in 15th, while Alex Rins struggled to match his Yamaha team-mate Quartararo’s Friday form in 17th.
