– The VR46 Academy did not allow itself a relaxed Pentecost weekend at home. Instead, the Italian team used the free race weekend to hold a track day in Misano.
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Present were the MotoGP riders Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini, Franco Morbidelli, and Francesco Bagnaia. Celestino Vietti and Andrea Migno were also on the track. Mentor Valentino Rossi was, of course, not missing either.
For one day, they rode superbikes in Misano to prepare for the important home race next weekend in Mugello. In recent days, there was uncertainty about Bagnaia’s participation.
At the MotoGP race in Barcelona, there was a serious accident involving Johann Zarco, Bagnaia, and Marini at the first restart in turn 1. Zarco suffered mainly ligament injuries in his left knee and will be out for a longer period.
Marini and Bagnaia took part in the second restart. In the corrected result due to tire pressure penalties, Bagnaia ultimately finished in third place. Marini was classified sixth.
Immediately after the Grand Prix, Bagnaia complained of pain and stated that he did not feel well. Nevertheless, he continued working at the Monday test in Barcelona.
After the test ended, Bagnaia announced that he would have a more thorough examination at home. He felt that something was wrong with his left wrist.
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That he was now present at the private test in Misano with his Ducati Panigale V4S is a good sign. An even stronger sign of his fitness was his lap time. Bagnaia posted a time of 1:34.70 minutes on Instagram.
With that, he was only four and a half seconds away from his MotoGP lap record in Misano with the production bike. Bagnaia set this record in 2024 during qualifying with 1:30.031 minutes. His race lap record is 1:30.877 minutes.
The lap record in the Superbike World Championship is 1:31.618 minutes. Nicolo Bulega set this with the WSBK version of the Panigale last year. The fastest race lap is 1:32.687 minutes by Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) in 2024.
Iannone tests the Harley-Davidson on Monday
In Misano, not only did the engines roar during the Pentecost weekend, but also on Pentecost Monday. Andrea Iannone mounted the Harley-Davidson saddle for the first time and gathered initial impressions with his new motorcycle.
The former MotoGP rider will compete from the next race weekend in Mugello in the new Bagger World Cup by Harley-Davidson. He is thus the tenth rider in the new racing series.
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