Vinales tops San Marino MotoGP FP1 as Yamaha leads Aprilia at Misano
2020 San Marino MotoGP - Free Practice Results (1)
Maverick Vinales set a fierce pace in first free practice for the San Marino MotoGP with a flurry of benchmark setting times in the closing stages of the session at Misano.
Heading up a Yamaha 1-2, Vinales sprung to the top of the timesheets in the closing minutes with a 1m 32.7s lap, before demolishing his own personal best with a leading 1m 32.198secs lap.
Already only half a second shy of the lap record, Vinales commanded a full 0.6s over Yamaha stablemate and title rival Fabio Quartararo, the pair shaking off Thursday’s suggestions that the manufacturer will be on the back foot because it didn’t test at Misano recently .
A strong start to the weekend for the local Aprilia team, Aleix Espargaro made the most of tracking Vinales ahead of him to lift his RS-GP into third place, though his efforts were consolidated by team-mate Bradley Smith popping up into an impressive fifth position on the sister machine.
The pair were split by Johann Zarco, who continued to make a play for a factory Ducati seat in 2021 by leading the Italian outfit’s interests on the year-old Avintia GP19 in fourth position.
Joan Mir led the Suzuki challenge in sixth place, from Jack Miller on the Pramac Ducati, while Cal Crutchlow put his injury concerns behind him to head up the Honda contingent in a solid eighth position.
Pol Espargaro was the sole KTM rider to crack the top ten in ninth place, with Takaaki Nakagami rounding out the top ten on the second of the LCR Honda entries.
Elsewhere, local rider Valentino Rossi - cheered on by a small crowd of fans allowed to attend at Misano this weekend - was 11th fastest from Franco Morbidelli, while Styrian MotoGP winner Miguel Oliveira endured an ignominious start down in 22nd and last.
Andrea Dovizioso’s crucial home event got off to an indifferent start after electronics issues consigned him to the pit lane for almost 30mins of the session en route to an eventual 14th.
His was the only notable issue to befall the riders though, with no accidents occurring.
