Italian Grand Prix Mugello MotoGP FP1: Iannone contains the Ducatis!

If we leave aside the countless false–true rumors concerning the 2019 season, the real issue of this Italian Grand Prix is ​​perhaps to know if, this year, Marc Márquez is not invincible.

In 2017, riding a machine that was certainly less accomplished, the Honda driver was unable to leave his mark at Mugello: ranked 6th in qualifying and in the race, he was only 13th at the end of the first day. , then deploring a lack of confidence in his front axle!

After 3 consecutive victories at Austin, Jerez and Le Mans, the Tuscan circuit could well foreshadow the rest of the current season with, in the event of a victory for Marc Márquez, something which would then strongly resemble the 2014 championship...

To do this, the Spanish rider will have to defeat the Ducati who remained on a success last year and rely heavily on the long straight to make the power of their engine speak for themselves, but also the Yamaha who knew how to exploit everything else last year. of the track to take pole position and the 2nd step of the podium.

At the pilot level, Michele Pirro is having its first weekend of the season while Xavier Simeon is present but still suffers from a big fall during the test in Barcelona.

Track conditions are excellent with partly clear skies and temperatures of 22° in the air and 32° on the ground.

Here is a little reminder of the past edition:

Mugello MotoGP™	2017	2018
FP1	1'47.394 Andrea Dovizioso (See here)	1'47.253 Andrea Iannone
FP2	1'47.365 Cal Crutchlow (See here)
FP3	1'46.543 Valentino Rossi (See here)
FP4	1'47.690 Johann Zarco (See here)
Qualification 1	1'47.058 Johann Zarco (See here)
Qualification 2	1'46.575 Maverick Vinales (See here)
Warm Up	1'47.345 Maverick Vinales (See here)
Course	Dovizioso, Vinales, Petrucci (See here)
All time lap record	1'46.489 Andrea Iannone 2015

 

When the red lights go out, Jorge Lorenzo is the quickest to set off while we discover the selection of soft front/medium rear tires which is favored by the majority of drivers.

From his first lap launched, Maverick Vinales misses a huge braking at the end of the straight and falls without gravity into the gravel trap. The Spanish rider regained confidence on the handlebars of his Yamaha by loading the front axle to properly heat his front tire.

Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi took command in 1'49.015 ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, Johann Zarco and Aleix Espargaro.

During his 4th visit, Marc Márquez runs in 1'48.245 but, surprise, it's the wild card Michele Pirro who is the first to break the 1'48 mark in 1'47.803 aboard his Ducati GP 18. The Italian rides at 354,7

The end of the first run, the hierarchy is therefore composed of Michele Pirro ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, Marc Márquez, Andrea Iannone, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Alex Rins, Cal Crutchlow, Jack Miller and Dani Pedrosa.

Johann zarco then appears in a modest 15th position.

With his 2nd motorcycle, Maverick Vinales then achieves the 3rd time, 2 tenths behind the Ducati test rider.

The 2nd run does not bring any notable change to the times and you have to wait until the last quarter of an hour to see everything first. Tom Luthi losing, without consequence, control of his Honda in turn 10.

We remind you in passing that the VDS team currently no longer has a team manager, and all members of the Belgian team are awaiting communication concerning them at the end of the day.

A few minutes later, Franco Morbidelli climbed to 6th position having chosen a unique front hard/rear soft combination.

Jack Miller narrowly delights him but it is quite surprising to see that 4 minutes from the checkered flag, no sector is lit in red...

You still have to wait 2 minutes to see Andrea Iannone light up the last 3 sectors and take pole position in 1'47.253, a faster time than those of the first day of last year.

This will be the only notable fact of this apparently very calm end of the first session…