Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia finish second and fifth at the end of Friday’s free practice for the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring
Three Ducatis top the timesheets with Zarco (Pramac Racing Team) first, ahead of Miller and teammate Martín. There are seven Desmosedici GPs in the top eight today.
Jack Miller closed with the second fastest time on the first day of free practice for the Austrian GP, the thirteenth Grand Prix of the 2022 MotoGP season held this weekend at the Red Bull Ring, just a few kilometres from Zeltweg.
Despite the new layout introduced this year and the mixed track conditions that affected FP1 after the rain that fell overnight, Miller was straight away among the fastest this morning and managed to close the first session on top. In this afternoon’s FP2, a few drops of rain fell in the last 10 minutes of the session but didn’t stop the MotoGP riders from continuing to run on slick tyres and attempt their time attacks. With the soft tyres, Miller set the second fastest time, finishing just 24 thousandths behind the Desmosedici GP of Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing Team).
After a difficult start due to the mixed track conditions this morning, Pecco Bagnaia improved in the afternoon to finish the session 160 thousandths off the Frenchman, in fifth place.
The day ended with seven Ducati Desmosedici GPs in the top eight, with Zarco first, Miller second, Martin third, Bagnaia fifth, Marini sixth, Bezzecchi seventh and Bastianini eighth.
Jack Miller (#43 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 2nd (1:29.861)
“I felt comfortable right from the first few laps in the wet and, even in the dry, our base setup proved to work very well. We didn’t touch anything on the bike and only worked on the tyre choice and the electronics. I like the new chicane: it lets the bike flow and be aggressive in both changing direction and opening the throttle when exiting the corner. I am satisfied with this first day and confident I can do well again tomorrow.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 5th (1:29.997)
“It’s been quite a day; this morning, first on wet tyres and then on slicks, I struggled a bit, but in the afternoon, we managed to improve. We’re still missing something in the corner exit compared to Quartararo, but we know what we need to do to improve. In general, the Ducati Desmosedici GP is a competitive package which works really well at this track. There are a lot of fast Ducati riders here, and they can all aim for the podium on Sunday. This is a great motivation for me, and I’m optimistic for tomorrow’s qualifying session”
The Ducati Lenovo Team riders will be back on track tomorrow morning at 9:55am local time for FP3, while qualifying for the Austrian GP will take place from 2:10pm CEST at the end of FP4.
