Third thief of the official Ducati team, Michele came to Mugello with his own team, which specializes in test sessions, like the one that took place on Wednesday last week on the Tuscan circuit. On this first day of free practice, Pirro shone by setting the fourth time, clearly ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, which was not really expected.
The San Giovanni Rotondo rider, entered here as a wild card, won the first four races of the Italian Superbike Championship, two at Imola then two at Misano. He is riding for the first time this season in MotoGP. Mugello is always a source of emotion for Pirro, because he remembers that it is there that he competed in his first Grand Prix, in 125 in 2003.
We expected an honest performance from Pirro this Friday, as usual, but to find him at the end of the day second of the nine Ducati entered, there was a margin that few fans would have crossed. However, in the first free session, Michele brought her Desmosedics in second position, 0.201 from the leader, his teammate Andrea Dovizioso, with a time of 1'47.595. He ran in the afternoon in 1'47.883, but his morning time allowed him to maintain an excellent fourth position in the standings for both sessions combined.
For Michele Pirro, “ It was a positive day for me, because we managed to run well this morning and afternoon and we also drove quickly on the worn tires.
“Unfortunately we are struggling a bit in the third sector and so we need to focus on improving that aspect.
“I want to thank the team because they gave me a very competitive bike, and tomorrow we will try to bring this Desmosedici as close to the front as possible. »
Results of the two free sessions combined:
1 C.CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda HONDA 1'48.194
2 A.DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'47.394 to 0.029
3 J.FOLGER GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'47.974 at 0.178
4 M.PIRRO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'47.595 at 0.230
5 M.VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'47.669 to 0.304
6 ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'47.674 to 0.309
7 D.PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'48.291 to 0.334
8 H.BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 1'47.708 to 0.343
9 A.BAUTISTA SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 1'48.289 at 0.363
10 J.LORENZO SPA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'47.747 at 0.382
11 A.IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'48.274 to 0.442
12 D.PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'47.962 at 0.585
13 M.MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'47.980 to 0.615
14 V.ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'48.513 to 0.635
15 S.REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'48.743 at 0.746
16 A.ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'48.394 at 0.764
17 J.MILLER AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1'49.119 to 1.195
18 T.RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1 to 49.123
19 L.BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 1'49.526 to 1.386
20 S.LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'49.679 to 1.477
21 K.ABRAHAM CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 1'49.754 to 1.560
22 P.ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'49.677 at 2.159
23 B.SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'50.686 to 2.275
24 S.GUINTOLI FRA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'50.996 to 2.689
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 85 points
2 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 68
3 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 62
4 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 58
5 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 55
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 54
7 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 40
8 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 38
9 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 38
10 Jack MILLER-Honda 29
11 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 26
12 Scott REDDING-Ducati 26
13 Loris BAZ-Ducati 19
14 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 17
15 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 15
16 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 14
17 Tito RABAT-Honda 13
18 Hector BARBERA-Ducati 12
19 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 9
20 Alex RINS-Suzuki 7
21 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 6
22 Bradley SMITH-KTM 6
23 Sam LOWES-Aprilia 2
24 Sylvain GUINTOLI-Suzuki 1
