Pecco Bagnaia ended the first day of free practice for the 2023 Italian MotoGP at Mugello with the honour of topping the timesheets as one of a few riders to make it directly to Q2 despite riding injured.

The championship leader shrugged off a fracture to his ankle, which he sustained in his race ending collision with Maverick Vinales at Le Mans, to shake out on top in a fast and frantic end to the P2 session at a scorching Mugello.

Putting him in good stead for a repeat of his win from 2022, Bagnaia was run very close by his two closest title rivals in Marco Bezzecchi and Brad Binder, who filled spots second and fourth behind him, just 0.063s and 0.118s adrift respectively.

Binder's lap time came with a dose of fortuitous timing, crossing the line just in time to start his final time attack and just moments after yellow flags had been removed to clear the felled Gresini Ducati of Fabio di Giannantonio at Turn 1.

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Splitting Bezzecchi and Binder was Alex Rins, the LCR Honda bouncing back to form in his most convincing display since his shock COTA win in April.

As expected, it was a strong display from Ducati home turf with six of its nine entries making it into the top ten, thus assuring their passage straight to Q2 tomorrow morning.

Jorge Martin led a trio of GP23s, he and Pramac team-mate Johann Zarco in fifth and seventh, sandwiching the impressive Enea Bastianini, who showed he is back to form following his spell out through injury.

Marc Marquez squeezed into Q2 with the eighth best time, but not before totalling his Repsol Honda late on, prompting a sprint to the garage to jump on the spare bike to survive the cut.

With Bagnaia and Bastianini hobbling through, they were joined by Aleix Espargaro and Luca Marini in ninth and tenth. In tears during P1 due to an ankle injury - which he then banged in a crash at the final corner - a mighty effort from the Aprilia rider saw him leap into ninth late on, with Luca Marini, himself carrying post-Le Mans injuries in tenth.

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With Binder and Espargaro getting their spots at the death, they came at the expense of Maverick Vinales in 11th and Raul Fernandez in 12th, the RNF Aprilia rider building on his eye-catching pace in P1 to very nearly crack Q2 for the first time.

Quickest in P1, Alex Marquez plummeted to 13th in P2, ahead of low key Jack Miller in 14th, while Fabio Quartararo was dealt another blow when he couldn't go quicker than his second place effort from P1 to end the day 15th overall.

Italian MotoGP, Mugello | Practice Results P1 & P2 Combined

Friday | Conditions - Sunny, Dry