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Megan White

MotoGP San Marino GP: Pirro leads Marini in opening practice

The Aruba.it rider, who regularly tests at Misano in his role for the manufacturer, set a 1m31.909s to top the timesheet on Friday morning.

He led from Marini, who was confirmed on Thursday to be staying with VR46 for 2024, with Pramac's Jorge Martin in third.

Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, who escaped serious injury in a crash at last weekend's Catalan GP, looked sore as he put in an early stint on his factory Ducati.

The reigning world champion was left with severe bruising after a massive highside in Sunday's race before he was hit by Brad Binder's KTM.

After an initial six-lap run, he took a break before going back out and ended the session in 20th with a 1m32.599s.

Fabio di Giannantonio set an early benchmark on his Gresini Ducati, leading with a 1m35.889s, before Martin went quicker by 0.3s.

Pirro put in the first sub 1m35s time soon after, with a 1m34.507s, before a bruised Marco Bezzecchi, who was caught up in last weekend's Turn 1 crash at Barcelona, went quickest with a 1m33.987s.

The VR46 rider was wiped out by Enea Bastianini, who sits out this weekend's round, and suffered an injured left hand for which he is receiving thrice-daily physiotherapy.

The Aprilia pair, who had a historic 1-2 for the Noale factory last Sunday, then went fastest, with double winner Aleix Espargaro ahead of Maverick Vinales.

Pirro soon reclaimed the top spot ahead of Bezzecchi, with fellow wildcard Dani Pedrosa, riding for KTM, slotted into second as he tested a carbon fibre chassis.

With 20 minutes remaining, Pedrosa went quickest with a 1m32.250s, leading from Pirro and Martin, who was 0.2s off the pace.

Marini then shot up to second, having been 10th, before he improved again to run 0.1s behind leader Martin, with a 1m32.066s.

Pirro then went fastest as Marini slotted into second to end the session ahead of Martin.

Bezzecchi was fourth ahead of RNF Aprilia's Raul Fernandez, who put in a 1m32.227s in the closing stages.

Pedrosa was sixth ahead of Vinales, Zarco, Aleix Espargaro and Gresini's Alex Marquez.

Franco Morbidelli was the fastest of the struggling Japanese bikes in 12th, with team-mate Fabio Quartararo in 15th.

Marc Marquez finished in 21st for Honda as rumours continued to swirl about his future at the team.

Augusto Fernandez was the only fall of the session, sliding off his Tech3 GasGas KTM at Turn 14 early on.

 
 
         
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy M. Pirro Ducati Team 51 Ducati 19 1'31.909   165.607  
2 Italy L. Marini Team VR46 10 Ducati 22 +0.115 0.115 165.400  
3 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 21 +0.157 0.042 165.324  
4 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 19 +0.181 0.024 165.281  
5 Spain R. Fernández RNF Racing 25 Aprilia 19 +0.318 0.137 165.036  
6 Spain D. Pedrosa Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 26 KTM 22 +0.341 0.023 164.995  
7 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 20 +0.366 0.025 164.950  
8 France J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5 Ducati 19 +0.392 0.026 164.903  
9 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 19 +0.418 0.026 164.857  
10 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 21 +0.440 0.022 164.818  
11 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 24 +0.481 0.041 164.745  
12 Italy F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21 Yamaha 21 +0.486 0.005 164.736  
13 Spain P. Espargaro Tech 3 44 KTM 17 +0.495 0.009 164.720  
14 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 24 +0.600 0.105 164.533  
15 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 21 +0.601 0.001 164.531  
16 Germany S. Bradl Honda World Superbike Team 6 Honda 20 +0.629 0.028 164.481  
17 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49 Ducati 20 +0.645 0.016 164.453  
18 Portugal M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88 Aprilia 18 +0.650 0.005 164.444  
19 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 21 +0.662 0.012 164.422  
20 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 18 +0.690 0.028 164.373  
21 Spain M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93 Honda 20 +0.765 0.075 164.240  
22 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 21 +1.292 0.527 163.311  
23 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 19 +1.319 0.027 163.264  
24 Japan T. Takahashi Team LCR 7 Honda 21        
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