Quartararo finishes well clear in Misano MotoGP test

Petronas SRT Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo topped the second and final day of the Misano MotoGP test by a much greater margin than he did on the first.

The Frenchman pipped team-mate Franco Morbidelli the day before but ended the test with an advantage of almost half a second over the next best, namely Danilo Petrucci of Mission Winnow Ducati.

Jack Miller had set the pace in Friday’s morning session with a 1:32.405s, putting him two tenths ahead of Pramac Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia on a GP18.

Despite sitting out the afternoon session due to a problem with his number one bike, the Queenslander’s effort stood up for fifth on the day’s combined timesheet.

It took Quartararo until the final half-hour to knock Miller out of top spot, initially by only three thousandths of a second, before twice improving to move the benchmark to a 1:31.639s.

Quartararo, Petrucci, and Morbidelli set their respective fastest laps right at the end of the day, with 0.476s separating the top two and 0.614s the satellite Yamaha team-mates.

It was another strong day for Yamaha as a whole with Monster Energy Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi fourth at 0.750s off the pace and Maverick Viñales sixth.

Bagnaia was seventh having almost matched his best time from the morning session, while Idemitsu LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami led the way for Honda in eighth, and Gresini Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was ninth with two crashes in the morning.

Championship leader Marc Marquez rounded out the top 10 at 1.266s off the pace but Repsol Honda team-mate Jorge Lorenzo skipped the day as he continues to recover from fractured vertebrae.

Suzuki Ecstar pair Joan Mir and Alex Rins finished 11th and 13th respectively, while test rider Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was KTM’s best in 16th position.

Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) sat 17th on the timesheet at day’s end.

The MotoGP field will return to Misano for the next grand prix weekend on September 13-15.

Results: Misano In-season Test: Day 2

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time	Gap 1st/Prev
1	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	1:31.639
2	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1:32.115	0.476/0.476
3	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	1:32.253	0.614/0.138
4	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:32.389	0.750/0.136
5	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:32.405	0.766/0.016
6	12	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:32.576	0.937/0.171
7	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:32.607	0.968/0.031
8	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1:32.740	1.101/0.133
9	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1:32.900	1.261/0.160
10	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:32.905	1.266/0.005
11	36	Joan MIR	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:33.002	1.363/0.097
12	53	Tito RABAT	ESP	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1:33.081	1.442/0.079
13	42	Alex RINS	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:33.120	1.481/0.039
14	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1:33.253	1.614/0.133
15	51	Michele PIRRO	ITA	Ducati Test Team	Ducati	1:33.254	1.615/0.001
16	26	Dani PEDROSA	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:33.413	1.774/0.159
17	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1:33.499	1.860/0.086
18	44	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:33.523	1.884/0.024
19	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	1:33.955	2.316/0.432
20	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1:34.089	2.450/0.134
21	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	HRC Team	Honda	1:34.136	2.497/0.047