At the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, Jack Miller set the best time at the end of the first day of free practice of the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, held entirely in wet track conditions.
During the morning PL1 session, the pilot of the Ducati Lenovo Team he managed to finish in third place, despite the low temperatures of the asphalt and the rain he was unable to immediately find a perfect feeling with his Desmosedici GP. In PL2 this afternoon, with the sun shining again in the final minutes of the session, Miller managed to push on the still wet track, taking the lead in the combined timesheet thanks to a fastest lap of 1: 41.305.
His teammate Pecco Bagnaia instead closes eighth. Sixth after PL1, despite a crash at the end of the session, the Italian driver was able to improve by over a second and a half in the afternoon. Unfortunately, an exit on the green canceled his last time trial of the day, which would have earned him the third position, and therefore Bagnaia was unable to move up the rankings.
Michele Pirro closes eighteenth. The Ducati Test Team test rider, present at Misano as a Wild Card, was unable to make good use of the time available during the PL2 session. Pirro will aim to improve and get a top ten placement during tomorrow morning’s PL3 session, before tackling the official qualifying of the sixteenth round of the 2021 MotoGP season, starting at 14:10, at the end of PL4.
Jack Miller – 1st (1: 41.305): “I am satisfied with this first day of work here in Misano. Despite the rain, the track conditions were good and we were able to take advantage of a good level of grip from the first session. This morning I struggled a lot to get the tires up to temperature and I took several risks during the session, but we made some changes for FP2 and, with the warmer temperatures of the afternoon, I was able to immediately feel more comfortable, managing to push from the first minutes of the session. Now we must continue to work in this direction to try to take another step forward in view of tomorrow’s qualifying: I am determined to do well in this last part of the season.“.
Francesco Bagnaia – 8th (1: 42.669): “Today I finished in eighth position, but only because I was unable to complete the last lap, after going out on the green. Actually, looking at the ideal times, I could have been in the top positions in the combined standings. Being fast here is very important for us and certainly racing on our home track is one more motivation to be able to stay ahead. Let’s see how the weekend will evolve. In the wet there are many strong riders, but we too have shown that we have a good pace, while if the race is dry we know we have great potential. Now the important thing will be to stay in the top ten in tomorrow morning’s FP3, which could still take place on a wet track“.
Michele Pirro – 18th (1: 43.413): “It was a rather unusual day. At the start of FP2 this afternoon there was a lot of water on the track, so I waited for conditions to improve before going out. When the track started to dry out, I got back on track with new tires, but I made several mistakes and wasn’t able to express our real potential. The first day went like this, but I’m confident that tomorrow we can aim for the top ten in FP3 and compete in a good qualifying “.
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