Bagnaia leads the opening day for Ducati despite the crash

The paddock stayed in Misano for two days of official testing during the season after the San Marino Grand Prix.

Rain in the morning left the track saturated for the first three and a half hour session at the start of the day. Only eight drivers set lap times.

Johann Zarco from Pramac set the pace at the end of the morning session as it was drying enough to allow a smooth run. The Frenchman led the overall standings with 1: 33.895 minutes.

When the action resumed in the afternoon for the second four-hour session of the day, Ducati’s Jack Miller set the first pace with 1: 32.116 minutes.

This should be the benchmark for some time, with the top spot eventually being taken over by his teammate Francesco Bagnaia – fresh from his second consecutive win in 2021 last Sunday at Misano.

Bagnaia crashed in the right-hand corner of Turn 10 at Tramonto about two hours after the afternoon session, but did not suffer any ill effects.

He rejoined the session shortly after, taking the top of the timesheet with a time of 1: 31.801 seconds while still running for about 90 minutes before improving to 1: 31.524s when the clock entered the last Hour clicked.

Bagnaia’s lap went undisputed to the checkered flag, and the Ducati rider ended the day 0.107 seconds ahead of Honda’s Pol Espargaro.

Pol Espargaro, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Honda had numerous items to try out, with a radically different-looking 2022 prototype making a public appearance – the front of the bike took on a more Yamaha-esque look.

Marc Marquez did a few laps on the prototype bike, as did test driver Stefan Bradl – but only in the morning.

LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami completed the top three ahead of Suzuki’s Joan Mir, who, alongside teammate Alex Rins, again had a 2022 engine for testing – after doing so in pre-season.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was fifth fastest ahead of Avintia rookie Luca Marini, while his team-mate Enea Bastianini in 21st place – fresh from his first podium at the San Marino GP last weekend – ended his day early after a crash.

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Jack Miller finished seventh in the sister factory team Ducati ahead of championship leader Fabio Quartararo, who, together with his team-mate Franco Morbidelli, did 18 laps on Yamaha’s prototype 2022.

Morbidelli afterward said that the 2022 bike didn’t really look like the feel of the 2019 bike he’d ridden since 2020 until the last weekend, noting that the base of the 2022 M1 showed signs of improvement over the already solid 2021 bike exhibited.

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Pramacs Jorge Martin and Brad Binder’s KTM completed the top 10, while Valentino Rossi, despite his impending retirement, showed no signs of slowing down as he finished 11th on 56 laps on his Petronas SRT Yamaha.

Early pacesetter Zarco slipped to 13th place between Miguel Oliveira on the KTM and Rins at the end of the day, Marc Marquez was 15th ahead of Aprilias Maverick Vinales, who also suffered a fall during the test.

The tests will continue on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. local time.

Item driver bicycle Time gap Round
1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1: 31.524 45
2 Pol Espargaro Honda 1: 31.631 0.107 65
3 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1: 31.843 0.319 52
4th Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1: 31.913 0.389 57
5 Joan Mir Suzuki 1: 31.927 0.403 66
6th Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1: 31.980 0.456 52
7th Luca Marini Ducati 1: 31.998 0.474 53
8th Jack Miller Ducati 1: 32.044 0.520 66
9 Jorge Martin Ducati 1: 32.135 0.611 51
10 Brad Binder KTM 1: 32.169 0.645 52
11 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1: 32.170 0.646 56
12th Miguel Oliveira KTM 1: 32.177 0.653 66
13th Johann Zarco Ducati 1: 32.348 0.824 43
14th Alex kidneys Suzuki 1: 32.379 0.855 72
fifteen Marc Marquez Honda 1: 32.448 0.924 47
16 Maverick Vinales Aprilia 1: 32.590 1,066 36
17th Alex Marquez Honda 1: 32.592 1,068 57
18th Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1: 32.653 1,129 32
19th Andrea Dovizioso Yamaha 1: 32.665 1,141 51
20th Iker Lecuona KTM 1: 32.751 1,227 55
21 Enea Bastianini Ducati 1: 32.837 1.313 1
22nd Danilo Petrucci KTM 1: 33.526 2.002 46
23 Dani Pedrosa KTM 1: 33.582 2,058 41
24 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 1: 34.497 2,973 33