Bagnaia tops Friday Mugello practice, is under investigation

MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia ended Friday practice at Mugello on top ahead of Yamaha's Alex Rins.

Bagnaia's 1m44.938s, topping an otherwise very close session by over quarter of a second, was just a tenth short of a new lap record - with Bagnaia already the record-holder at the track.

But the Italian is also under investigation, having got in the way of Alex Marquez at Correntaio a few minutes prior to his storming lap.

Tensions rising 💢

This incident between @alexmarquez73 and @PeccoBagnaia is now under investigation#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/6NEF3K0KHW

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2024

Yamaha's assured Mugello form continued as Rins - who was already known to have been very fast here in private testing earlier this month - lifted himself into second place late on, followed by rookie Pedro Acosta.

Acosta's Gas Gas-badged Tech3-run KTM RC16 is remarkably the only to have secured automatic passage to Q2. This came despite Acosta having had a fast get-off at Biondetti for his second crash of the day.

💥@37_pedroacosta has gone down at T13!

Thankfully rider OK (and in a rush to the pits) 👍#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/821xwtx5JG

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 31, 2024

Works KTM rider Brad Binder would've joined him in that crucial top 10 comfortably - having set a lap good enough for second - but was relegated to 13th when that best lap was deleted for track limits.

Trackhouse Aprilia's Miguel Oliveira had perhaps his best showing of the season so far in fourth, while Gresini Ducati's Marc Marquez ensured he avoided a third successive Q1 exit by dodging the session entirely with the fifth-fastest time.

He was followed by three fellow Ducatis in Enea Bastianini (who looked out of top-10 contention for so much of the session but found a late burst of pace), points leader Jorge Martin and brother Alex Marquez.

The two works Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro took the final available Q2 spots. Vinales, like Binder, had his best lap deleted, but had a good-enough second-best lap.

Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo was a quarter of a second down on Rins, which was the difference between second place and a Q1 appearance.

The Honda contingent was led by Takaaki Nakagami in 19th, the Japanese LCR rider making a strong impression by going over four tenths quicker than any of his fellow RC213V riders.