Francesco Bagnaia kicked off his home Italian MotoGP weekend with a strong performance, as the Ducati double world champion led Friday's practice sessions. Mugello, a circuit that Bagnaia favors, saw him narrowly miss his own lap record from last year by just a tenth of a second. His top time of 1 minute 44.938 seconds put him ahead of Spanish riders Alex Rins (Yamaha) and rookie Pedro Acosta (GasGas).
Six-time champion Marc Marquez secured the fifth fastest time, while current series leader Jorge Martin was seventh. The top 10 riders from this practice session earned their spots in Saturday's second qualifying session, which determines the first four rows of the grid. They will be joined by the two fastest riders from the first qualifying session. Bagnaia, who is second in the riders' standings and 39 points behind Martin, is in a strong position heading into the weekend's sprint and main race events.
As the seventh round of the season approaches, Bagnaia is looking to capitalize on his recent victory in Catalunya and aim for a third consecutive win. With Marquez just two points behind him in the standings, the competition is fierce. Bagnaia hopes to secure another triumph in front of his enthusiastic tifosi supporters on Sunday.
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