In the opening free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Mugello, Maverick Vinales, Aprilia MotoGP rider, took the lead. Vinales struggled in the previous weekend’s meeting in Barcelona, with low grip, fighting with lack of feeling in the front tire and being surpassed by his teammate Aleix Espargaro. However, he showed an early return to form at the high grip circuit of Mugello. His lap time of 1m46.140s put him two tenths ahead of Fabio Quartararo from Yamaha. The M1s looked competitive during the 45-minute session, especially after the tests at Mugello earlier this month.
Franco Morbidelli, Quartararo’s former teammate at Yamaha, finished third as the lead Ducati rider. Pedro Acosta from Tech3 Gas Gas managed to secure fourth position, despite a late crash at Scarperia. Jorge Martin from Morbidelli’s Pramac team came in fifth, followed by Marc Marquez, his rival for a spot in the official Ducati team. Marquez, riding a year-old Ducati for Gresini, chose not to change his tires during the session, finishing in sixth place, just over four tenths behind the leader.
Pecco Bagnaia, the reigning Ducati champion, found himself in a similar situation, keeping the same set of tires and finishing in ninth place. Unfortunately, his best lap time was excluded after the session, which would have secured him eighth place. Instead, Alex Rins from Yamaha took eighth position, followed by Aleix Espargaro from Aprilia, who had two excursions into the gravel at Turn 1 (San Donato).
Despite keeping the same tire set, Alex Marquez from Gresini Ducati and Raul Fernandez from Trackhouse Aprilia obtained decent results, completing the top 11. Pol Espargaro, a guest rider from KTM, started his first MotoGP weekend since the end of 2023 and finished in 15th place. Luca Marini was the highest-ranking Honda rider in 19th place, with the Japanese manufacturer also conducting tests.
