Zarco 1.4 seconds clear of Marc Marquez in wet FP1, Bagnaia crashes late on

Pramac rider Johann Zarco dominated the opening MotoGP free practice at Misano (2), while fellow Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia suffered a fall late on. 

As was the case a month ago, MotoGP riders had a very wet Misano circuit to contend with. So much so that championship leader Fabio Quartararo had a small moment coming out of turn six on just his first lap out of the pits. 

Two crashes soon followed as LCR Honda rider Alex Marquez suffered a highside at turn two, before Brad Binder went down at turn eight less than a minute later. 

As we’ve seen many times this season, factory Ducati rider Jack Miller adapted quickest to the tricky conditions, while KTM’s Miguel Oliveira also spent time at the front of the field. 

Winner here a month ago, Francesco Bagnaia then split Miller and Oliveira with P2, while Marc Marquez - winner last time out at COTA was fourth with 15 minutes gone. 

While most of the grid returned to pit lane due to track conditions getting significantly worse, Bagnaia, Oliveira, Iker Lecuona, Jorge Martin and Alex Marquez were the only riders to keep churning out the laps. 

Marc Marquez, Joan Mir and Quartararo headed back out with half the session complete, however, lap times remained over two seconds off the pace as we saw with Bagnaia moments prior. 

Mir, who struggled in the wet in Misano one, then got his braking all wrong heading into turn eight and had to run off track. 

Quartararo and Miller followed suit in having moments of their own as it was the rear that threatened to come around on both occasions. 

With just under ten minutes to go track conditions began improving once again as Lecuona became the first rider to go quicker. The Tech 3 KTM rider moved up from fifth to third. 

Johann Zarco then replaced his fellow Ducati riders at the front with a time of 1:43.395s - over six tenths quicker than Miller. 

While Zarco went even quicker on his next lap around, second in the championship Bagnaia crashed at turn eight. The Italian returned to his feet immediately and looked unhurt. 

Lorenzo Savadori, who is making a return to MotoGP action for the first time in four races also crashed late on. 

At the front, Zarco continued to improve and finished a stunning 1.4s quicker than Marc Marquez in second. Franco Morbidelli had a great start to his home round as he finished fifth. 

Splitting Marquez and Morbidelli was Miller and Martin, while Bagnaia, Oliveira, Danilo Petrucci, Lecuona and Mir rounded out the top ten.