Italian MotoGP: Bagnaia sets lap record in Mugello practice

Italian Francesco Bagnaia, riding a Ducati, set a new track record as he maintained his dominance in practice for the Italian MotoGP at Mugello on Saturday.

Bagnaia topped the third practice session with a lap of 1min 45.456sec for this sixth leg of the world championship.

The pacesetter in both of Friday’s two opening sessions bettered Fabio Quartararo by 0.157s with Brad Binder, on a factory KTM, also less than two tenths slower in third.

The South African hit a speed of 362.4kmh to match the top-speed record set by Johann Zarco on a Ducati satellite Pramac bike in Qatar at the start of the season.

Quartararo leads the MotoGP standings.

In fourth in FP3 was Bagnaia’s teammate Jack Miller, the winner of the last two races.

Less than a second split the top 19 riders.

Finishing out of the top 10 and destined for Q1 from which only the top two progress to Q2 and the battle for pole, were Maverick Vinales, who fell on his Yamaha, and Honda’s multiple world champion Marc Marquez, as well as the sport’s decorated elder statesman Valentino Rossi.

Third practice times

 1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 1:45.456, 2. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) at 0.157, 3. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 0.196, 4. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati) 0.245, 5. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Pramac) 0.269, 6. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 0.298, 7. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 0.335, 8. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki) 0.369, 9. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Honda) 0.402, 10. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 0.409, 11. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 0.439, 12. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.557

Selected

18. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 0.902

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© Agence France-Presse