Marc Marquez led the opening MotoGP Italian Grand Prix practice session at Mugello, just ahead of Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci.
Michele Pirro led the session early on with a time of 1:47.804s, and looked set to improve on this before backing off shortly before the start/finish line, seemingly with a mechanical issue.
The Italian, making the first of his 2019 wildcards this weekend, duly coasted back round to the pits before later re-joining the session, although couldn’t improve on his earlier time.
Marquez however relegated Pirro to second shortly after, banging in a 1:47.558s lap which would ultimately be quick enough to top the 45-minute session.
Petrucci however would push Pirro down to third with a late flyer, but couldn’t usurp session leader Marquez’s quickest time.
Behind the top three came the Petronas SRT Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, ahead of an impressive Aleix Esparagaro, who managed fifth quickest on the updated Aprilia RS-GP despite what looked to be an engine failure in the closing stages.
Jack Miller ended FP1 sixth just ahead of Takaaki Nakagami, while Pol Espargaro continued KTM’s promising Le Mans pace in eighth.
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top ten, ahead of some fancied runners who were unable to crack the early top positions.
Alex Rins was fastest Suzuki in 11th just ahead of the top factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi in 12th, while team-mate Maverick Vinales languished down in 14th.
Defending race winner Jorge Lorenzo ended his first Mugello session on the factory Honda RC-213V all the way down in 18th, the Mallorcan’s 2019 struggles continuing at the classic Italian venue.
While no riders crashed during the session, several riders had their fair share of problems. The under-fire Turn 1 braking zone claimed several victims during 45 minutes, with Miller and Marquez examples of riders running wide at the entry of the slow San Donato hairpin.
Pol Espargaro meanwhile had a near miss as he came across a slow moving Petrucci as he entered Turn 1. The Spaniard was able to miss the Ducati however and continued onwards.
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