Aprilia's Espargaro heads final day of mid-season MotoGP Misano test

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro topped the final day of MotoGP testing at Misano by 0.080 seconds as KTM rookies Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner made their debuts.

Wednesday’s running at Misano was notable for the first outings on a MotoGP bike for Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner on the Tech3 KTMs they will race in 2022.

The current Moto2 championship leaders and teammates took over from Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci at Tech3 and completed 31 laps between them.

Fernandez was 0.726 seconds quicker than Gardner in 22nd and 25th, with the latter suffering a crash towards the end of the morning session.

Espargaro led the standings at the end of the morning session with a 1m31.599s as he continued to evaluate various developments on the RS-GP.

The four-hour afternoon session began with championship leader Fabio Quartararo topping the first hour with a 1m32.003s, the Yamaha rider trying the 2022 prototype M1 as well as various settings on his current machine.

Espargaro returned to the top of the standings in the second hour of the afternoon with a 1m31.743s, which he improved later to a 1m31.584s.

This lap time would go unchallenged through to the chequered flag as most of the field packed up early.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Dorna

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia didn’t set any times in the afternoon session but remained second overall with a 1m31.664s as he tried, amongst other things, a new fairing on his factory Ducati.

Joan Mir – who crashed in the afternoon session - completed the top three on his Suzuki as he tested the 2022 engine and chassis, as well as other 2021 items, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and the other factory team Ducati of Jack Miller rounding out the top five.

Honda’s Pol Espargaro suffered a late technical issue in the afternoon session but was sixth overall, as he and teammate Marc Marquez put more miles on the radical 2022 RC213V prototype.

Quartararo was seventh in the end ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, while ninth-placed Miguel Oliveira ended the test in buoyant fashion as he believes KTM has figured out what was causing its lack of pace in recent races.

Marquez completed the top 10 on the Honda, while 18th-placed Andrea Dovizioso discovered exactly where he needs to improve his riding style on the Petronas SRT Yamaha.

Misano podium star Enea Bastianini (Avintia Ducati) suffered another crash during the test in the morning session and didn’t ride again in the afternoon.

Misano MotoGP test results - Afternoon session

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1:31.584		37
2	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1:31.735	0.151	23
3	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1:31.873	0.289	33
4	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1:31.974	0.390	33
5	Maverick Vinales	Aprilia	1:32.035	0.451	52
6	Pol Espargaro	Honda	1:32.105	0.521	37
7	Marc Marquez	Honda	1:32.151	0.567	36
8	Jack Miller	Ducati	1:32.166	0.582	26
9	Luca Marini	Ducati	1:32.201	0.617	28
10	Brad Binder	KTM	1:32.202	0.618	44
11	Alex Marquez	Honda	1:32.259	0.675	44
12	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1:32.331	0.747	29
13	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1:32.352	0.768	32
14	Jorge Martin	Ducati	1:32.624	1.040	12
15	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1:32.898	1.314	24
16	Dani Pedrosa	KTM	1:32.959	1.375	31
17	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1:32.978	1.394	28
18	Andrea Dovizioso	Yamaha	1:33.027	1.443	32
19	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1:33.656	2.072	12
20	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	1:34.043	2.459	38
21	Raul Fernandez	KTM	1:34.360	2.776	17
22	Remy Gardner	KTM	1:35.086	3.502	14

Misano MotoGP test results - Morning session

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1:31.599		45
2	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1:31.664	0.065	39
3	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1:31.707	0.108	35
4	Jack Miller	Ducati	1:31.798	0.199	55
5	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1:31.887	0.288	44
6	Pol Espargaro	Honda	1:31.926	0.327	52
7	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1:31.959	0.360	44
8	Maverick Vinales	Aprilia	1:32.002	0.403	57
9	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1:32.136	0.537	47
10	Luca Marini	Ducati	1:32.156	0.557	34
11	Brad Binder	KTM	1:32.175	0.576	39
12	Marc Marquez	Honda	1:32.246	0.647	33
13	Alex Marquez	Honda	1:32.278	0.679	46
14	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1:32.371	0.772	45
15	Jorge Martin	Ducati	1:32.412	0.813	22
16	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1:32.491	0.892	32
17	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1:32.635	1.036	10
18	Andrea Dovizioso	Yamaha	1:32.830	1.231	47
19	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1:32.842	1.243	30
20	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	1:32.975	1.376	10
21	Dani Pedrosa	KTM	1:33.373	1.774	22
22	Raul Fernandez	KTM	1:33.988	2.389	34
23	Sylvain Guintoli	Suzuki	1:34.141	2.542	33
24	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	1:34.367	2.768	22
25	Remy Gardner	KTM	1:34.641	3.042	33