Francesco Bagnaia marked himself down as the man to beat at the Austrian MotoGP with a sizzling performance in practice on Friday.
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Ducati's double world champion relishes the Red Bull Ring circuit, winning in Spielberg in 2022 and 2023.
And he looks up for the hat-trick on the evidence of his electric 1min 28.508 fastest lap in the second session.
That lifted the Italian to the top of the time sheets ahead of Franco Morbidelli on Ducati's satellite Prima Parmac bike by 0.281sec.
Nearly three tenths clear ⏱️@PeccoBagnaia emerges as the favourite on Friday in Spielberg 👊#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/529RrDtL5O
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 16, 2024
Morbidelli's teammate Jorge Martin, who leads Bagnaia by a mere three points in the championship standings, was third at 0.319s.
Bagnaia, looking right at home on one of his favourite circuits, was sending out an early warning shot that he means business after MotoGP's mid-season break.
Marc Marquez, who is joining him in the factory Ducati garage next season, was fourth on his Ducati-satellite Gresini bike, ahead of KTM's Brad Binder, the only rider to break Ducati's total domination in Austria, the South African winning in 2021.
Fabio Di Giannantonio had a bruising day, the Italian falling from his Ducati-VR46 at the beginning of the session injuring his shoulder which ruled him out for the weekend.
Di Giannantonio, whose only MotoGP race win came in Qatar last November, was placed eighth in the riders' standings.
His team announced he was unable to take part in Saturday's sprint or Sunday's main event due to a dislocated left shoulder.
Another in the wars was exciting rookie Pedro Acosta, who suffered a bone-crunching high speed 300kmh crash in the morning practice when losing balance on his GasGaS bike.
After sliding along the track behind his stricken bike the Spaniard appeared shaken but not injured.
The top 10 fastest times book their tickets for Saturday's second qualifying session which shapes the first four rows of the grid. This group are joined by the two fastest riders from the first qualifying session.
Practice times (top 10 through to Saturday's second qualifying):
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 1min 28.508sec, 2. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Ducati-Pramac) at 0.281sec, 3. Jorge Martín (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) 0.319, 4. Marc Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) 0.350, 5. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 0.461, 6. Alex Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) 0.548, 7. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 0.599, 8. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 0.609, 9. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 0.725, 10. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Ducati) 0.773, 11. Pedro Acosta (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3) 0.800, 12. Jack Miller (AUS/KTM) 0.821, 13. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 0.872, 14. Johann Zarco (FRA/Honda-LCR) 1.098, 15. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3) 1.254, 16. Luca Marini (ITA/Honda) 1.301, 17. Alex Rins (ESP/Yamaha) 1.314, 18. Miguel Oliveira (POR/Aprilia-Trackhouse) 1.373, 19. Raul Fernandez (ESP/Aprilia-Trackhouse) 1.444, 20. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 1.550, 21. Pol Espargaro (ESP/KTM) 1.675, 22. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 1.913, 23. Lorenzo Savadori (ITA/Aprilia) 2.037, 24. Joan Mir (ESP/Honda) 2.149, 25. Stefan Bradl (GER/Team HRC) 2.387