until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
MotoGP's post-Italian Grand Prix test day at Mugello was effectively rained out, more or less neutralising one of the three in-season collective tests available to the grid.
The day had begun with a brief glimpse of a dry track, but rain first spoiled the conditions somewhat and then made them completely unrepresentative, making the session's eight-hour runtime a pointless formality.
KTM rider Brad Binder topped the proceedings on a 1m47.617s, 0.033s clear of Tech3 Gas Gas rookie Pedro Acosta and three seconds off the weekend's pole time. Only three other riders even got into the 1m47s laptime range.
"Really, the highlight of my weekend," said Binder sardonically of topping the test.
"This morning I did two flying laps in the dry, came in, said to the guys 'okay, hurry up, quick-quick, let's go again" to try whatever we wanted to test. And then it rained."
The test opportunity would've been particularly valuable to MotoGP's European manufacturers - which have no other opportunities to test with their full-time riders - while their 'Rank D' Japanese counterparts Honda and Yamaha can at least make up for the lost running in private testing.
A lot of the riders didn't really bother to run in the rain. As VR46 Ducati's Marco Bezzecchi put it: "The wet is very particular. It's different in every track.
"If you ride at Mugello in wet, doesn't mean that at Assen, if it rains, you'll go fast anyway. Because the wet at Assen is different to the wet here."
The weather disruption will be a particular annoyance to Trackhouse Aprilia's Raul Fernandez, who - ahead of a second arm pump operation in just over a year on Tuesday - intended to use the test day to get acquainted with a 2024-spec Aprilia ahead of a planned switch from his current 2023-spec bike at Silverstone.
Only one collective in-season test now remains on the schedule, set to take place at Misano in September after the grand prix there.
