Petronas SRT’s Fabio Quartararo sweeps Misano MotoGP testing – MotoGP

Fabio Quartararo was once again fastest at the Misano MotoGP test, after topping Friday’s running by 0.476s over Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.

The rookie edged out Petronas SRT team-mate Franco Morbidelli in Thursday’s afternoon session at the San Marino Grand Prix venue by just 0.023s.

Quartararo was passed fit to ride just days after his heavy crash on the opening lap of the British GP.

The morning session was led by Pramac’s Jack Miller, who stole top spot away from his rookie team-mate Francesco Bagnaia with a 1m32.405s tour – some half a second quicker than Quartararo’s time from Thursday.

Miller would sit out the afternoon session, while championship leader Marc Marquez set the pace in the early stages with a 1m33.556s lap as he continued to evaluate the carbon fibre-wrapped chassis on his Honda.

Leading by close to half a second at one stage, Marquez’s advantage was cut down by Quartararo with just under two hours remaining to 0.183s.

Morbidelli then moved into second not long after.

Marquez improved to a 1m32.905s, before being usurped by Bagnaia with a 1m32.621s lap.

Miller’s time from the first session stood as the overall best of the test until the final 30 minutes.

Quartararo would produce a 1m32.402s lap having just taken over the top spot with a 1m32.516s effort.

He then improved this to a 1m31.978s best in the closing stages, which he would better to 1m31.639s to get to within a tenth of the outright lap record.

Morbidelli held onto second right until the dying seconds, when Petrucci leapt up to second with a final effort of 1m32.115s.

Valentino Rossi and sixth-placed Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales continued to test the 2020 prototype version of the Yamaha, as well as a new carbon fibre swingarm, which Rossi previously admitted had been something he had long been requesting.

Bagnaia ended up seventh, while Miller was fifth by virtue of his first session time. LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami was the top Honda in eighth on the combined times ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Marquez.

Suzuki duo Joan Mir and Alex Rins were split by Avintia’s Tito Rabat just outside of the top 10, while KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa headed Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso in 16th.

Pol Espargaro, on the only other RC16 present on Friday after Johann Zarco elected to sit out the final day of running, crashed in the morning.

He escaped uninjured and ended up 18th overall having tested the 2020 prototype KTM Pedrosa has been helping to develop this year, with Espargaro heaping praise on the bike.

Honda’s Jorge Lorenzo and Tech3’s Miguel Oliveira both missed Friday’s running as they opted instead to focus on recovering from injuries ahead of the Misano race in two weeks’ time.

Day two test result