MotoGP Mugello: Bagnaia bounces back to top FP3 Ducati charge

Ducati Lenovo’s Pecco Bagnaia bounced back from a turn 12 crash to top MotoGP’s FP3 at Mugello on Saturday morning.

The Italian’s 1’45.393 effort sat three-tenths clear of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Mooney VR46’s Luca Marini as Ducati’s stellar talent bickered for dominance across the top ten throughout the 45-minute free practice.

Saturday morning welcomed the arrival of a second new livery of the weekend with Gresini Racing rolling out an Aldo Drudi design for the Italian Grand Prix to celebrate the Tuscan hills and a message of peace. Bagnaia unveiling his own dedicated helmet design for his home race.

As the track action heated up, Jack Miller suffered a mechanical on the second Lenovo GP22. The colourful Enea Bastianini headed the early times from LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and rookie teammate Fabio di Giannantonio before Aruba.it Ducati’s Michele Pirro and Bagnaia battled for command.

Safely confirmed for the future, Aprilia’s two fighters arrived in first and fourth after ten minutes on track before Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins stole the show. The current best one second adrift of Friday’s overall target as Bagnaia suffered a high speed crash at turn 12. Both man and bike reaching the air fence after a trip through the gravel with rider okay.

Prima Pramac’s Jorge Martin suffered another crash, this time at turn 10, as Ducati’s dismal Saturday continued. Miller hoping to salvage the situation with an early run on soft tyres as he promoted the GP22 to the lead of the session with a 1’46.776 before putting his head down once again. The Australian’s second machine continued to set the pace as he circulated with a 1’46.347, albeit still narrowly down on his FP2 effort. The top 17 still yet to improve on their Friday times