The growth shown on his home track in Misano does not seem to have been a flash in the pan for Franco Morbidelli at all. The Prima Pramac Racing rider, in fact, started the weekend of the Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix in style, dominating the first free practice session. With the asphalt reaching almost 60 degrees and with a track that was still quite dirty, Franky was constantly in command of the group and in the end he managed to lap in 1’30″689, just seven tenths of a second from the best pole of the track of Mandalika.
To understand how much of a difference it made, suffice it to say that the closest pursuer, who is Maverick Vinales, saw himself edged out by a good 221 thousandths. The Aprilia rider, however, is also the only one to have fitted a new rear tire at the end, even if it was another medium one. With the same bike and tire used, Morbidelli then gave over half a second to his teammate, world champion Jorge Martin, who occupies third position.
The interesting thing is that in the first five positions there are four different bikes, because the fourth time was achieved by the KTM with Pedro Acosta, but the big surprise is that the top 5 is completed with the Honda of Johann Zarco, albeit the French of the LCR Team is separated by 767 thousandths. For the Japanese manufacturer, however, it was a great FP1, because scrolling down the rankings there are also Luca Marini in ninth position and Takaaki Nakagami in 11th. The new aerodynamics, therefore, are paying off, but we must not forget that last year the RC213V made a step in Asia with the high temperature casing of the rear tyre, which is present this weekend.
Between the Hondas of Zarco and Marini there is a trio of Ducatis led by a Marc Marquez who seemed to be in a bit more difficulty than the last outings in this first round. The Gresini Racing driver, in fact, took a good eight tenths from Morbidelli and precedes the other GP23, but with the colors Pertamina Enduro VR46, entrusted to Marco Bezzecchi and the GP24 of Misano winner Enea Bastianini, who is the last to having achieved a gap of less than a second.
Pecco Bagnaia is therefore missing from the roll call, having experienced a rather troubled FP1. The reigning world champion struggled to stop his Desmosedici GP, complaining above all about a lack of grip at the rear and in the end he placed 14th at 1″1. It must be said, however, that in the end he did at least a couple of laps in the which he had scored top 5 intermediates, without however managing to complete them to the end. The fact remains that his is the last of the Ducatis, given that the injured Fabio Di Giannantonio in tenth position and Alex Marquez also precede him. in 12th.
After a promising start and after a brilliant double Misano, where the top 5 eluded him only due to running out of fuel, Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha seem to be struggling again, with “El Diablo” only finding himself in 15th ° position, 1″1 behind and followed by the returning Alex Rins, who had been forced to miss the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to a violent attack of the flu.
With the exception of Vinales’s, the Aprilias seem to be in particular difficulty: the three that continued with the used tire, in fact, are all at the rear of the group, with Aleix Espargaro 19th at 1″5 and Raul Fernandez following him. It also went worse for Miguel Oliveira, who closes the group and ended the session at the medical center for checks after a bad highside at turn 4.
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