Tatsuki Suzuki and Enea Bastianini have ended the first day of track action fastest as round seven of the championship gets underway in Misano.

Suzuki returns to the venue that the Japanese rider claimed his and the SIC58’s maiden victory, at the circuit named after team-owner Paolo Simoncelli’s late son, Marco Simoncelli. Suzuki lapped the 2.63-mile circuit in 1:42.783 and ended the session just +0.050s ahead of championship leader Albert Arenas with Raul Fernandez rounding out the top three.

Andrea Migno was the first of the Italian riders; the Sky VR46 rider finished fourth with team-mate Celestino Vietti and John McPhee close behind. The Scotsman was +0.095s quicker than Sergio Garcia who finished seventh, +0.362s behind Suzuki in what is an ultra-close field.

Jaume Masia leads a Leopard Racing eight and nine with Filip Salac rounding out the top ten. Local rider, Romano Fenati was left down in 11th while Ai Ogura, who suffered a late crash in free practice two, heads Darryn Binder and Gabriel Rodrigo.

Niccolo Antonelli is the first of the riders to not make it inside Q2, however, he will head the charge in tomorrow’s third practice session, starting at 09:00 local time.

In the Moto2 class, newly announced Ducati rider, Enea Bastianini, led the charge with EG 0,0 Marc VDS duo trailing the Italian. Sam Lowes finished second with Augusto Fernandez in third. Lowes is carrying a penalty however, the British rider was awarded a pit lane start following his crash in Austria, cleaning out Somkiat Chantra at turn three.

Nicolo Bulega put his former VR46 Academy work into use finishing fourth ahead of Luca Marini and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who after the short break will be hoping to launch a rejuvenated challenge.

Styrian winner, Marco Bezzecchi was seventh fastest ahead of the returning Hafizh Syahrin and Jorge Navarro; while German rider, Marcel Schrotter completed the top ten.

The final Q2 positions are led by rookie Aron Canet, +0.598s behind Bastianini. Canet finished just ahead of the sole Red Bull KTM AJO rider following Martin’s COVID test, Tetsuta Nagashima, Xavi Vierge and American Joe Roberts.

Lorenzo Baldassarri was the first rider to miss out on a Q2 spot, finishing 15th, +0.792s off the pace.

Moto2 return to the Misano circuit on Saturday for their third and final practice session which gets underway at 10:55.

Featured image: MotoGP.com