MotoGP Mugello Pre-Qualifying: Diggia soars, Italian quartet leads the way!

A fiercely contested Practice session also at the Italian GP: the VR46 rider confirms himself as the best, followed by three fellow countrymen

The much-anticipated pre-qualifying for the 2026 MotoGP Italian Grand Prix has just concluded. The fastest of all at the Mugello Circuit was Fabio Di Giannantonio, who had already topped FP1 and confirmed himself again in the afternoon. With his Ducati Desmosedici GP26, the Pertamina VR46 team rider made a big difference especially in the third sector.

Behind Diggia are three other Italians, all close: Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) and the surprising Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina VR46). The top 5 is rounded out by the GP25 Ducati of Fermin Aldeguer from the BK8 Gresini team.

Marc Marquez secures direct Q2 for Qualifying by setting the sixth-fastest time in Practice. The reigning MotoGP champion, still not at his best after recent surgeries, finished ahead of the Aprilias of Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin, the two riders who occupy the top two positions in the overall World Championship standings. Also in the top 10, and thus straight into Q2, are Alex Rins on Yamaha and rookie Diogo Moreira on LCR Honda. Everyone else will have to start from Q1 on Saturday morning, including Pedro Acosta.

Notably, there were two red flags during this afternoon’s session. The first was triggered by a turn 4 crash for Fabio Quartararo after about half an hour: his Yamaha M1 was heavily damaged and the French rider had to use the other bike available in the box.

The second red flag was caused 12 minutes from the end by Brad Binder, who, following a technical problem, had leaned his KTM RC16 against a wall positioned along the straight—an unsafe situation that required stopping the on-track action to remove the South African rider’s bike.

Piero Taramasso, Two-wheel Motorsport Manager at Michelin, spoke to Sky Sport MotoGP about the ever-crucial tire topic: "Better conditions this afternoon, with almost 50 degrees on the track. For the front we’ll definitely use the medium both in the sprint and in the race. There are doubts about the rear; both the soft and the medium are competitive. Last year with similar temperatures the soft was used for both races of the weekend. It’s a tire that drops off steadily, lap by lap, not abruptly. It can do the long race again this year, but the medium is coming along well: it gives more stability and on a track with many high-speed direction changes it can offer something extra."

No doubt about the front tire to use in the two races of the weekend at Mugello, but for the rear there’s an ongoing toss-up. Taramasso adds more key details: "We initially planned to run the soft on Saturday and Sunday, but now we have doubts. We’ll need to analyze the data closely, especially tire wear. The medium’s strong point is stability in direction changes; it gives riders more confidence, since the bike behaves well and you can push a bit more. The soft runs a bit hotter, causing more movement from the bike, which can be bothersome. The key is rear-end stability: the rider who prefers stability will opt for the medium."