* Rookie

Official Misano MotoGP Records:

Best lap: Francesco Bagnaia 1m 30.304s (2024)

Fastest race lap: Marc Marquez 1m 31.564s (2024)

Francesco Bagnaia, runner-up in both San Marino races, fires a warning shot by leading Friday practice with a new lap record at the 2024 Emilia Romagna MotoGP.

The reigning world champion, seeking his and Ducati’s 100th grand prix win on Sunday, finished 0.198s ahead of title rival Jorge Martin.

San Marino grand prix winner and morning pace setter Marc Marquez didn’t look comfortable on his opening time attack, but returned on softs to claim a safe third ahead of Enea Bastianini.

Fabio Quartararo was a surprise fifth for Yamaha.

Martin and Bastianini were among the many fallers with KTM’s Jack Miller the first to miss the top ten cut for Saturday’s Qualifying 2.

Bagnaia and Martin were the only riders to lap under 1m 31s using the medium rear tyre, before the soft tyre time attacks.

After a damp start to the day, the afternoon hour was fully dry, although temperatures remain noticeable cooler than  ‘Misano 1’.

Tech3 GASGAS rookie Pedro Acosta, who has new homologated front aero, suffered an early fall at Turn 14. The other RC16 riders would suffer a similar fate.

Miguel Oliveira ground to a halt with a technical issue on his Trackhouse Aprilia, with Alex Marquez crashing out on entry to the first chicane just before new rubber was fitted in the final stages.

Fabio di Giannantonio, already pondering surgery due to a recently dislocated shoulder, fell heavily in the closing minutes. Worryingly, the Italian looked in pain.

Martin, Bastianini and Brad Binder all walked away from their falls.

Monster Yamaha’s Alex Rins, last this morning, skipped this afternoon’s session due to sickness.

* Rookie

Official Misano MotoGP Records:

Best lap: Francesco Bagnaia 1m 30.304s (2024)

Fastest race lap: Marc Marquez 1m 31.564s (2024)

Marc Marquez picks up where he left off at the end of the San Marino MotoGP weekend by leading opening practice for the Emilia Romagna event, the second of the Misano rounds.

A damp track, not to mention data from the previous race weekend and post-race test, meant only a handful of riders set a lap time by the halfway stage of the 45 minutes.

‘Misano 1’ winner Marquez, who set a new lap record of 1m 31.564s in the closing stages of the grand prix, topped opening practice with a time of 1m 32.082s (using a soft front and medium rear tyre) on his tenth and final lap.

That put the Gresini rider 0.063s ahead of Jorge Martin, whose points advantage over Francesco Bagnaia has been slashed to 7 after a pit stop gamble backfired in the San Marino Grand Prix.

Bagnaia was fourth fastest this morning, just behind Martin’s Pramac team-mate and San Marino Sprint podium finisher Franco Morbidelli.

The Emilia Romagna GP is the second of two consecutive Misano rounds, having been added to the calendar in place of the cancelled India/Kazakhstan events.

Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir missed the entire San Marino GP due to “intense gastroenteritis” with team-mate Joan Mir withdrawing from the Sunday race due to sickness.