The opening day of practice in preparation for this weekend’s MotoGP event at a revised Misano World Circuit in Italy was limited to just one wet session this morning after a torrential lunchtime downpour forced Race Direction to cancel the afternoon’s track activity. The heavy rain left parts of the circuit, the pitlane and team garages submerged under water meaning a frantic afternoon for teams and circuit staff. Bridgestone’s tyre fitting area was unaffected by the downpour.
Three free practice sessions were originally scheduled for the MotoGP class today with an extra hour of practice included to allow teams, riders and tyre manufacturers the opportunity to get to grips with the new-look 4.18km Misano track, run in a clockwise direction. An additional three tyres have been permitted for each rider’s allocation this weekend for this extra practice, a total of 15 front and 19 rear tyres as opposed to the standard 14 and 17. Early morning rain meant that only wet weather tyres were used during the one-hour session, so each rider still has 34 tyres at his disposal once action resumes tomorrow. To compensate for the reduced running today, Race Direction has extended Saturday morning MotoGP practice by one hour from 09.00 -11.00 local time.
Qualifying practice remains unchanged and will start at 13.50 (local time). Bridgestone-shod Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri returned from his recent injury woes to post the quickest time of this morning’s wet session, 1.684s faster than his nearest challengers, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and Casey Stoner (Ducati) who were second and third fastest respectively. Ducati’s Loris Capirossi, Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet, Suzuki’s John Hopkins, De Puniet’s team-mate Ant West and Pramac d’Antin rider Alex Barros all completed the difficult morning session in the top ten.
Bridgestone Free Practice Session:
Pos - Rider - Team - Session 1 (pos) Gap
P1. Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini 1m46.948s Fastest
P3. Casey Stoner - Ducati 1m48.852s +1.904s
P4. Loris Capirossi - Ducati 1m49.167s +2.219s
P7. Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki 1m49.724s +2.776s
P8. John Hopkins - Suzuki 1m49.957s +3.009s
P9. Anthony West - Kawasaki 1m50.389s +3.441s
P10. Alex Barros - Pramac d’Antin 1m51.072s +4.124s
P11. Chris Vermeulen - Suzuki 1m51.164s +4.216s
P14. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d’Antin 1m53.171s +6.223s
NC: Toni Elias Honda Gresini No Time
Weather: Session 1 (taken from official MotoGP timesheet) Track: Wet
Air: 22°C,
Track: 19°C,
Humidity: 79%
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