MotoGP Mugello FP3: Francesco Bagnaia sets new lap record

Francesco Bagnaia sets a new lap record in MotoGP, is a win on the cards?

It’s a Ducati track and a Ducati man is in P1, Francesco Bagnaia has been on fire all weekend long and has just broken the lap record at Mugello by 0.063 seconds from Marc Marquez’s 2019 time, very fitting given Pecco’s race number and nationality. Bagnaia leads Fabio Quartararo in second place, the Frenchman is going head to head against Bagnaia for the title with only a single point separating the duo in the standings, it is going to be a very interesting race come Sunday given Ducati’s top speed advantage.

In third place we see Brad Binder, a rather unexpected but welcome surprise, the KTM’s are running different fuel this weekend after switching suppliers and it seems to be working for the Austrian factory with Binder matching the fastest speed ever set on a MotoGP bike becoming the first non-Ducati rider in the top 10 speed records, it’s incredibly tight at the top with Binder only 0.039 behind Quartararo and 0.049 ahead of Jack Miller in P4 who leads Frenchman Johann Zarco in P5.

Alex Rins was the sixth quickest rider and is a man many are putting down for a possible race win this weekend after crashing in the last three races, a win here in Mugello would be a great way for him to turn his season round and change his fortunes for the better, Rins was only 0.037 ahead of Miguel Oliveira on the KTM with Joan Mir just behind.

Rounding off the top 10 were Pol Espargaro and Franco Morbidelli with the latter occupying the final Q2 spot, Morbidelli’s time was only 0.409 from P1 yet is only good enough for P10. Maverick Vinales is the first rider to go via Q1 later today following a crash late into the session, he is joined by Marc Marquez, Aleix Espargaro, Takaaki Nakagami and Valentino Rossi as the top 19 riders go within 1 second of P1, crazy competitive.

Full results – 

Featured image – Ducati