Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team lead the way in Misano Practice. Fourth place for Francesco Bagnaia

• Franco Morbidelli is third aboard the Desmosedici GP machine of the VR46 Racing Team, while Gresini Racing Team’s Alex Márquez is fifth

The Ducati Lenovo Team enjoyed a positive start to their home event at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, with Marc Márquez topping the Practice timesheets of the Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera. Francesco Bagnaia also put in a strong performance, finishing fourth at the end of the afternoon session.

Márquez, fifth quickest in Free Practice, moved to the top with ten minutes left thanks to a 1’30.480 lap-time, which secured him first place at the flag. Bagnaia stayed within the top ten for the whole second session before ending fourth – 0.230s behind his teammate.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow morning at 10:10 local time for Free Practice 2, which will be followed by Q2 at 11:15. The sixteenth Sprint of 2025 will be contested over 13 laps from 15:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“The start of the day wasn’t the best, as I wasn’t riding comfortably in Free Practice, despite still being quick. In the afternoon I got better lap after lap, improving both my line and my braking points. The team did an excellent job and gave me what I needed from the bike. We’re in a good place now, but we know we need to keep pushing. Coming from Montmeló, which is a circuit that requires smooth riding, here you need to be aggressive, especially under braking. There’s a lot of grip, so it was a bit more challenging to find the right feeling with the bike. But in the end, we managed it.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 4th
“We knew that here, compared to the last two events, we would be more competitive. The Misano track offers a higher level of grip, which mitigates many of the problems we had before coming here. We took a different approach: being a track I know perfectly, I asked not to change anything on the bike. The modifications made were only small details. We were competitive both over a single lap and in terms of pace. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the third split on my second time attack, which cost me a lot of time. I’m still very happy, because being in the top ten and avoiding Q1 surely helps.”