Wednesday’s race at Misano was notable for the first rides on a MotoGP bike for Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner on the Tech3 KTMs they will ride in 2022.
The current Moto2 championship leaders and teammates took over at Tech3 Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci and completed 31 laps between them.
Fernandez was 0.726 seconds faster than Gardner in 22nd and 25th, with the latter suffering a fall towards the end of the morning.
Espargaro led the standings at the end of the morning session with a time of 1: 31.599 minutes while continuing to evaluate various developments at the RS-GP.
The four-hour afternoon session began with championship leader Fabio Quartararo surpassing the first hour with 1: 32.003s, while the Yamaha rider tried out the 2022 prototype M1 and various settings on his current machine.
Espargaro returned to the top of the overall standings in the second hour of the afternoon with 1: 31.743 minutes, which he later improved to 1: 31.584 minutes.
This lap time would go unchallenged to the checkered flag, as most of the field packed up early.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati team
Photo by: Dorna
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia did not set any times in the afternoon session, but remained second overall with a 1: 31.664 minutes when he tried, among other things, a new fairing for his factory Ducati.
Joan Mir – who crashed in the afternoon session – completed the top 3 on his Suzuki as he tested the 2022 engine and chassis as well as other 2021 items, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and Jack Miller’s other Ducati factory team rounding the top five .
Hondas Pol Espargaro suffered a late technical issue in the afternoon session but finished sixth overall as he and teammate Marc Marquez covered more miles on the radical 2022 RC213V prototype.
Quartararo ended up seventh ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, while ninth Miguel Oliveira finished the test positive, believing KTM figured out what caused the lack of pace in recent races.
Marquez completed the top 10 on the Honda, while Andrea Dovizioso discovered in 18th place exactly where he needs to improve his driving style on the Petronas SRT Yamaha.
Misano podium star Enea Bastianini (Avintia Ducati) suffered another crash during the morning test and stopped riding in the afternoon.
Misano MotoGP test results – afternoon session
| Item | driver | bicycle | Time | gap | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1: 31.584 | 37 | |
| 2 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1: 31.735 | 0.151 | 23 |
| 3 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1: 31.873 | 0.289 | 33 |
| 4th | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1: 31.974 | 0.390 | 33 |
| 5 | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia | 1: 32.035 | 0.451 | 52 |
| 6th | Pol Espargaro | Honda | 1: 32.105 | 0.521 | 37 |
| 7th | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1: 32.151 | 0.567 | 36 |
| 8th | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1: 32.166 | 0.582 | 26th |
| 9 | Luca Marini | Ducati | 1: 32.201 | 0.617 | 28 |
| 10 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1: 32.202 | 0.618 | 44 |
| 11 | Alex Marquez | Honda | 1: 32.259 | 0.675 | 44 |
| 12th | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1: 32.331 | 0.747 | 29 |
| 13th | Alex kidneys | Suzuki | 1: 32.352 | 0.768 | 32 |
| 14th | Jorge Martin | Ducati | 1: 32.624 | 1,040 | 12th |
| fifteen | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 1: 32.898 | 1.314 | 24 |
| 16 | Dani Pedrosa | KTM | 1: 32.959 | 1,375 | 31 |
| 17th | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 1: 32.978 | 1,394 | 28 |
| 18th | Andrea Dovizioso | Yamaha | 1: 33.027 | 1,443 | 32 |
| 19th | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1: 33.656 | 2,072 | 12th |
| 20th | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia | 1: 34.043 | 2,459 | 38 |
| 21 | Raul Fernandez | KTM | 1: 34.360 | 2,776 | 17th |
| 22nd | Remy gardener | KTM | 1: 35.086 | 3,502 | 14th |
Misano MotoGP test results – morning session
| Item | driver | bicycle | Time | gap | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1: 31,599 | 45 | |
| 2 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1: 31.664 | 0.065 | 39 |
| 3 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1: 31,707 | 0.108 | 35 |
| 4th | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1: 31.798 | 0.199 | 55 |
| 5 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1: 31.887 | 0.288 | 44 |
| 6th | Pol Espargaro | Honda | 1: 31.926 | 0.327 | 52 |
| 7th | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1: 31.959 | 0.360 | 44 |
| 8th | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia | 1: 32.002 | 0.403 | 57 |
| 9 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 1: 32.136 | 0.537 | 47 |
| 10 | Luca Marini | Ducati | 1: 32.156 | 0.557 | 34 |
| 11 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1: 32.175 | 0.576 | 39 |
| 12th | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1: 32.246 | 0.647 | 33 |
| 13th | Alex Marquez | Honda | 1: 32.278 | 0.679 | 46 |
| 14th | Alex kidneys | Suzuki | 1: 32.371 | 0.772 | 45 |
| fifteen | Jorge Martin | Ducati | 1: 32.412 | 0.813 | 22nd |
| 16 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1: 32.491 | 0.892 | 32 |
| 17th | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 1: 32.635 | 1,036 | 10 |
| 18th | Andrea Dovizioso | Yamaha | 1: 32.830 | 1,231 | 47 |
| 19th | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1: 32.842 | 1,243 | 30th |
| 20th | Enea Bastianini | Ducati | 1: 32.975 | 1,376 | 10 |
| 21 | Dani Pedrosa | KTM | 1: 33.373 | 1,774 | 22nd |
| 22nd | Raul Fernandez | KTM | 1: 33.988 | 2,389 | 34 |
| 23 | Sylvain Guintoli | Suzuki | 1: 34.141 | 2,542 | 33 |
| 24 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia | 1: 34.367 | 2,768 | 22nd |
| 25th | Remy gardener | KTM | 1: 34.641 | 3,042 | 33 |