MotoGP: Aleix Espargaró closes the Misano test in the lead

No one was able to beat the time set by Pecco Bagnaia on Tuesday on the first official MotoGP test day at the Misano Circuit on Wednesday, setting the time at 1:.31.524 in the afternoon session.

This Wednesday, Aleix Espargaró led the time sheet in the morning (1:31.599) and also in the afternoon (1:31.584), but in neither case did he improve the performance of the Ducati rider on the first day.

The Aprilia driver added 37 laps to the 45 he had done in the morning, having to work hard when with just over an hour to go the Japanese Takaaki Nakagami provisionally placed first with a time of 1:31.735 that in the end it earned him to be second and first Honda . Aleix responded shortly after with the aforementioned 31.5 to put things in their place.

Joan Mir finished with the third fastest time of the day, after pointing out that he had tested a new chassis “that allows us to stop the bike better”, one of the weak points for the Spaniard this season, a piece “that we can use right now season”.

Fabio Quartararo finished behind Suzuki’s, the outstanding leader of the World Cup. The Frenchman was not happy with the innovations introduced by Yamaha in these two days of training, in which he had dedicated himself, above all, to preparing for the second race to be held at this circuit, in October.

“We tried things, unfortunately we didn’t improve at all. It was worse or the same, so we went back to the basic settings. Unfortunately there is no improvement, ”said the one from the Côte d’Azur somewhat annoyed.

Maverick Viñales , who was the last driver to leave the track, completed 52 laps, the one with the most in the afternoon (and also in the morning with 56), managing on his 49th lap, already in the last minutes of the session, to climb to the fifth position.

The Repsol Honda duo, Pol Espargaró (6th) and Marc Márquez (7th), rushed the track until practically the end of the session, finishing ahead of Granollers by only 46 thousandths and half a second both of Aleix. HRC continued to test numerous new parts, including the 2022 bike.

Jack Miller was eighth on the time sheet, bettering Luca Marini ‘s time on his final lap in the battle to be the first Ducati. Rossi’s brother, recently called into question for being the brand’s driver with the worst performance, finished ninth, ahead of Brad Binder , who improved at the last minute to close the top 10.

Alex Márquez finished 11th as the fourth Honda at 0.6s from the reference. For the youngest of the Márquez family, the tests at Misano are important since last year he made a big leap in quality from these same tests.

Alex Rins was 13th, with Jorge Martín 14th, while KTM tester Dani Pedrosa walked away with the 16th fastest time, 1.3 seconds behind Aleix Espargaró.

Andrea Dovizioso set the 18th fastest time, while Valentino Rossi, who only did 12 laps in the afternoon, finished 19th, six tenths behind his new teammate.

The young Moto2 riders Raúl Fernández and Remy Gardner , who are invited by KTM to test the Tech3 RC16, closed the time sheet, with the Spaniard, just like in the morning, faster than the Australian, who finished 0.7 seconds from Madrid and 3.5 from the reference.

Johann Zarco did not take part in this second day of testing in Misano as he traveled to France to undergo surgery for his compartment syndrome problem. Stefan Bradl , Honda tester, Sylvain Guintoli, Suzuki tester, Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia were also out on track in the afternoon session.

Results of the MotoGP test in Misano (Wednesday)

(Click on the link or on the image to see the photos of the MotoGP test in Misano)