Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia lines up alongside Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo for the first time in 2021 ahead of the ItalianGP, after qualifying second at Mugello.

The battling pair spent Saturday swapping places at the top of the standings. Bagnaia breaking the Mugello circuit record in the morning’s FP3 before the Monster Energy rider hit back to steal the show with pole position and an even faster lap this afternoon.

The Ducati youngster hopes today’s antics will be reflected in Sunday’s 23-lap race as he aims to prevent the M1 from breaking free at the front but, as is the case throughout the paddock, his most prominent thoughts this afternoon remain with Jason Dupasquier, after the 19-year-old was airlifted to Florence hospital at the close of Moto3 qualifying.

“First of all, I just want to say, fingers crossed for Jason, who is fighting to remain with us” Bagnaia said. “At the start of FP4 I was a bit strange on the bike, because I was thinking about him, so has been difficult to start FP4” he explained solemnly.

“Today, my pace was good, everything was good” the Italian continued as he returned to his own performance.

“In the qualifying, I looked behind me, and there was six riders following me. So I was a bit nervous in the second run of qualifying, but then to finish on the front row is always the best result possible, so I’m happy.

“Fabio did an amazing job today, because ’45.1 is something that is very, very difficult - even to just think about - so he did an amazing job. I think that our bikes in this track are really balanced, because in the first sector, in the last sector, we are very strong, sector two, we are very close and in sector three they [Yamaha] are faster than us, so it’s really balanced.

“Tomorrow I think that the race can be very nice to see, can be a great battle. I really just want to stop him on the first laps - for sure, he will like to open a gap - and then just see what will happen. It looks like it can be a race like in Portimao, but for me, just not starting from P11, starting close to him, and I will try to make a great duel with him.

Discussing the tyre choice, Bagnaia explained: “I think that everybody will choose medium-medium. We already didn’t decide which front I will use, because the medium is a bit too soft and the hard is a bit too hard, so is very difficult to understand and to choose. If tomorrow will be colder than today, and it looks like it will be like this, for sure, I think, all the riders will use medium-medium.”