Fabio Di Giannantonio has moved the target once again on Saturday morning at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello. The #49 rider set the fastest lap time in Free Practice 2 at the Italian GP, but they weren’t the fastest rider out on track. Catch up on the MotoGP FP2 results below.
Fresh Rubber and Fresh Helmets for Saturday Morning
Saturday morning in Mugello was stunning with sunshine and the Tuscan mountains flanking the famous circuit. As usual on Saturdays, the special helmet designs were revealed, some with a little more meaning than others. Luca Marini collaborated with the Caschi per il cuore charity to support a project benefiting children with serious illnesses. For Marco Bezzecchi, the Aprilia Racing rider paid tribute to the late Alex Zanardi.
After Di Giannantonio’s Friday domination, the Italian was immediately out of the pit lane as the 30 minutes counted down. The #49 was sporting a fresh black-and-yellow checkered design as he made his way around the circuit. However, it was Francesco Bagnaia who nabbed the first fast time attack of the day with a 1:46.610. There was another rider who was hitting faster speeds, though. Jorge Martín was going at a blistering pace to break the all-time top speed record, going 368.6 km/h.
Celebrations and First Crash of the Day
A third of the MotoGP FP2 session complete, Di Giannantonio made his way up into the 1:45s to take the top spot on the board. Meanwhile, Martín had a small blip as he crossed the line and then off into the gravel as he celebrated his top speed record. Aprilia Racing Technical Director was floored by the speed, along with the rest of the team: “It’s super exciting to reach the highest speed ever. I’m not discounting reaching 370 km/h.”
The #89 was also briefly noted for a main straight incident with Franco Morbidelli, but was ultimately dismissed. Just when it appeared the session would be incident-free, Michele Pirro came down hard through Turns 13 and 14. The #51, who is on the BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP machine this weekend, was up and walking back to the garage.
Final Ten Minutes of the Session
Di Giannantonio was back in the top spot but had to pull off the track and head down the service road. The possible cause? A potential safety-mode shutdown occurred when the Ducati motorbike shifted into neutral.
The #49 made it back to the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing garage with five minutes of the session remaining. Morbidelli found himself involved in another incident, but this time Luca Marini was the instigator. From the view of Martín’s onboard camera, Marini appeared to be riding slow on line.
After a disappointing finish to their Friday, Pedro Acosta found some pace to make it into the top three. The #37 split the two Italian riders, Bagnaia and Di Giannantonio. However, no one could come close to the current frontrunner of the weekend. Di Giannantonio took the checkered flag with a lap time of 1:45.641.
The Top 10
P1: Fabio Di Giannantonio (#49) 1:45.641.
P2: Pedro Acosta (#37) +0.244
P3: Francesco Bagnaia (#63) +0.270
P4: Fermín Aldeguer (#54) +0.301
P5: Ai Ogura (#79) +0.347
P6: Marco Bezzecchi (#72) +0.429
P7: Franco Morbidelli (#21) +0.445
P8: Jorge Martín (#89) +0.463
P9: Marc Márquez (#93) +0.490
P10: Diogo Moreira (#11) +0.509
Keep an eye out for the MotoGP qualifying report to come!