Maverick Viñales showed he means business after his recent move to Aprilia by claiming the standings in Friday’s FP1 with a 1’32.666 lap.
Rain stopped play in the closing third of the opening 45-minute session with Suzuki’s Joan Mir and MotorLand Aragón victor Pecco Bagnaia holding the top three.
Misano action began with a hive of pitlane excitement as Andrea Dovizioso enjoyed his first touch with the Petronas SRT M1, Franky Morbidelli doing likewise in Monster Energy colours on his return from injury. Stefan Bradl also swelling the grid on a Repsol Honda wildcard ahead of next week’s test.
Takaaki Nakagami took charge with his third lap of the 4.2km layout before the times began to tumble, Ducati test rider Michele Pirro coming out on top after the opening shuffle, thanks to a 1’33.727.
Recent test experience also looked to be a bonus for new Aprilia rider, Viñales as the Spaniard sat second, before both he and his RS-GP partner Aleix Espargaro headed the standings in quick succession next time around.
Johann Zarco circulated in third from a pair of Suzukis, with Fabio Quartararo following in sixth before Marc Marquez arrived, 0.002s quicker than Espargaro. The top eight were covered by less than half a second as Bagnaia joined the party in sixth, Alex Rins splitting the Aprilia’s ahead, in third.
Viñales was showing confident form as he once again topped the standings, this time a 1’32.966 was the time to beat. Enea Bastianini proving that his Aragón performance was far from a one off, as he found sixth at his home track.
Dovizioso circulated three-seconds adrift after 15-minutes on track, before the Italian returned to the box, his teammate Valentino Rossi halving the gap, in 21st.
Last weekend’s winner returned to his dominating position after the opening run, advancing the pace to 1’32.801, his Ducati teammate Jack Miller following suit for second, just 0.058s back. While championship leader, Quartararo looked to be struggling somewhat with grip, in eighth.
Dark clouds threatened overhead as the session continued, Viñales fine-tuning his performance in third before Mir hit the top with 17 minutes to go. HRC were on a charge as the trio sat sixth, eighth and ninth in the closing quarter of an hour, Bagnaia’s Desmosedici proving problematic as the Ducati mechanics struggled to get it started ahead of his final run.
Viñales hit the top once again with 15 minutes remaining, 1’32.666 the new benchmark with just two-tenths separating the top five in the closing stages.
Bagnaia finally returned to action at the 13 minute mark although it was short-lived, the rain beginning to make itself known at the same time and hitting hard within seconds.
The riders set back out for a tentative look with five to go, Rins, Mir and Pol Espargaro the first to head out, but with torrential rain leaving rivers across the track there was little to be gained.
