Aleix Espargaró took the lead in the first of two days of MotoGP testing at the Misano World Circuit before lunch on Tuesday. The World Championship third leads in front of his teammate Maverick Viñales.
Maverick Viñales got off to a good start on the first day of testing at Misano in the morning. Third in the San Marino GP on Sunday, he clocked a time of 1:31.557 minutes, which was already faster than Jack Miller’s (Ducati) pole position time on Saturday. But just before the lunch break, Aprilia teammate Aleix Espargaró lapped the 4.226 km long circuit 26/1000 seconds faster. Espargaró had already completed 45 laps by the lunch break (Misano will not be driven from 1 to 2 p.m.) despite a crash, and Viñales even 51.
After the first four hours, MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo placed behind the two factory Aprilias on his Yamaha M1. The world championship leader has already completed 43 laps, just 0.057 seconds short of Aleix Espargaró’s best time. Quartararo has three bikes available for testing.
Fourth place went to Honda works driver Pol Espargaró. The Spaniard, who was involved in a mass crash in the very first corner of the Misano GP on Sunday, clocked a fastest time of 1:31.707 minutes. This put the 31-year-old faster than the entire GP weekend, as it was his best lap was 1:32.075, driven in FP3.
At 1:00 p.m. local time, the two Ducati riders Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia, who had been fighting for victory in the MotoGP race up to the finish line on Sunday, were in 5th and 6th place. Jack Miller had a crash at Turn 6 earlier in the morning.
Brad Binder was the fastest of the KTM squad in 13th place, 0.6 seconds behind. Marc Márquez had already completed 39 laps on his MotoGP comeback by midday and found himself in 17th place. After 44 laps in Misano, Stefan Bradl (Honda) was in 22nd place (+ 1.103 sec).
Domi Aegerter, who was given the chance to test the injured Joan Mir’s Suzuki GSX-RR this week, had 33 laps on the clock after four hours. His fastest lap time so far was 1:33.907 minutes, putting him in 27th place.
Misano Test Tuesday Session 1 (September 6th):
1. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, 1:31.531 min
2. Vinales, Aprilia, +0.026sec
3. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,057
4. Pol Espargaro, Honda, +0.176
5. Bastianini, Ducati, + 0.210
6. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.277
7. Martin, Ducati, +0.333
8. Rins, Suzuki, + 0,405
9. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, + 0.419
10. Marini, Ducati + 0.506
11. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.524
12. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.538
13. Brad Binder, KTM, + 0,623
14. Miller, Ducati, +0.682
15. Zarco, Ducati, + 0.690
16. Oliveira, KTM, + 0.805
17. Marc Marquez, Honda, +0.864
18. Raúl Fernández, KTM, + 0.867
19. Alex Marquez, Honda, +0.945
20. Nakagami, Honda, +0.981
21. Pirro, Ducati, + 1,031
22. Bradl, Honda, +1,103
23. Gardner, KTM, + 1,208
24. Darryn Binder, Yamaha, + 1,289
25. Pedrosa, KTM, + 1,508
26. Savadori, Aprilia, + 1,848
27. Aegerter, Suzuki, +2,376
28. Dovizioso, Yamaha, +3,366