Pol Espargaro topped the timesheets on Friday, posting a time of one minute and 32.769 seconds in FP2 after finishing second behind Valentino Rossi in the day’s first session. Pedrosa, a former victor at the track, was the fastest Honda on Day 1 as teammate and points leader Marc Marquez ended Friday in P5.
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Marquez, world champion in 2013 and 2014, won at Misano last season, and the 23-year-old is fully confident of competing for another victory on a track he describes as “twisty and slow”.
Austrian GP first-time victor Iannone was ruled out of the San Marino GP after a crash in FP1, with the Italian initially returning to the box before undergoing further medical examination and being declared unfit for the mythical manufacturer’s second home race of the year.
Silverstone victor Maverick Vinales was third for Suzuki, 0.262s slower than Rossi, ahead of Marc Marquez, who had a low-speed fall at Turn 10 halfway through the session.
That was fastest by only 0.037 seconds, but Rossi went faster again on his next two laps, with his 1m33.451s effort set after the chequered flag good enough to lead the way by 0.136s.
British GP victor Vinales rose to P2, 0.025s down, on the Ducati pace, and then took P1 on 1m33.721s.
Hector Barbera, Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding, whose Pramac Ducati suffered an engine problem at the end of the 45 minutes, completed the top 10.
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Rossi, born in Urbino less than an hour’s drive from the Misano circuit, trails Marquez by 50 points with six races remaining and is relishing his homecoming after claiming a hard-fought third place at Silverstone. He got up after the crash but was then taken to the medical centre for x-rays.
