MotoGP Misano FP1: Maverick Vinales leads mixed conditions FP1

September 17, 2021September 17, 2021 EMR Writer

Maverick Vinales was the fastest rider in the MotoGP FP1 session in mixed conditions.

It was a mixture of dry then wet for the MotoGP riders in the FP1 session who bailed on their fast lap times as soon as the rain appeared leaving Maverick Vinales on top for the first time since he joined Aprilia before Aragon, of course he is helped by recent testing here but that doesn’t take anything away from his achievement and has shown he is going well on the RS-GP, is this the start of the return of the Mack?

Vinales led Joan Mir by 0.080 seconds, Mir has lost buckets of points this year due to poor qualifying which has forced him to work harder and finish races in less than ideal positions, this weekend he has taken a new approach in going 100% in FP1 to secure a Q2 spot before aiming to qualify within the top 5 to give him the best chance possible of winning the race and taking the most points possible, he led last time winner Francesco Bagnaia who could do laps around here with his eyes closed at this point, he recently rode a Ducati V4-S here and was only 2-3 seconds slower than a MotoGP bike on the detuned fully stock ‘S’ machine. He took a podium and led the race here last year, expect him to win this weekend leading his teammate in P4.

Alex Rins led Pol Espargaro in P5 and P6, the Suzuki of Rins putting both Suzuki’s in the top 5 with Fabio Quartararo the fastest Yamaha down in a less than ideal P7 for the title leader who struggled at Aragon and will be aiming to put that right this time around.

Wildcard Stefan Bradl continues to show us why he is absolutely class in P8 leading Marc Marquez in P9, this means that all three factory Honda’s are in the top 10 within 0.500 of P1 with Aleix Espargaro rounding off the top 10 0.436 from his teammate, Johann Zarco was the last rider within the 0.5 mark in P11.

Franco Morbidelli made his MotoGP return in the factory Yamaha colours for the first time, he is still not 100% and finished in a decent P16 with his replacement Andrea Dovizioso getting to grips in P24.

Full results –