Moto2 World Championship leader Franco Morbidelli opened up his home round at Mugello fastest of all in FP1, the Marc VDS rider pipping compatriot Mattia Pasini to top spot.
After the disappointment of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, in which Morbidelli crashed out, the Italian bounced back with a win at Le Mans to extend his lead in the standings to 20 points and will be keen to add to that this weekend in Italy.
For much of the 45-minute session, it was countryman Pasini on the Italtrans machine who led the way, the Italian taking his last win in grand prix racing at Mugello nine years ago.
As the clock ticked into the closing minutes, Morbidelli upped his pace to pip Pasini by just 0.047 seconds with a lap of 1m52.568s and remained unchallenged through to the chequered flag.
His Marc VDS team-mate Alex Marquez completed the top three with a 1m52.787s, while Honda Team Asia’s Takaaki Nakagami, who has once again been linked to a move to MotoGP for 2018, was just a further tenth behind in fourth spot.
Simone Corsi tends to spring into life when his home round of Mugello comes around, the Speed Up rider ending the morning not too far off the pace in fifth ahead of Miguel Oliveira, who trialled a new front mudguard on his KTM in FP1.
Tom Luthi will be left feeling uneasy at the eight-tenth gap separating him from Morbidelli in seventh spot, the Swiss rider in need of a result against the Italian after dropping nine points to him last time out in France.
Isaac Vinales enjoyed a strong start in eighth ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri, who will be hoping for a repeat of his 2016 podium heroics to reignite his 2017 campaign. Sky VR46 rider Francesco Baganaia completed the top 10, with Sandro Cortese close behind in 11th.
The German’s team-mate Marcel Schrotter guided his Dynavolt Intact Suter to 12th on the FP1 timesheets, while Axel Pons headed Xavi Vierge and Yonny Hernandez to round out the top 15.
16th-placed Luca Marini was the weekend’s first faller, the Forward Racing rider suffering a fairly heavy impact with the tarmac after a highside exiting Turn 1 in the closing stages. Appearing in some discomfort as he rose to his feet, Marini was able to walk away from the incident unaided.
