Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) went just two tenths away from the all-time Moto3™ lap record at Mugello as the South African enjoys a successful day at the office on Friday at the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) shot to P2 on his final flying lap to split the two Petronas Sprinta Racing riders, John McPhee the man in third place. 

Behind the leading trio is Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) and he was a constant threat at the top of the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2, the experienced Italian is fourth fastest heading into qualifying day. Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) rounded out the top five as Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Denis Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia Esponsorama Moto3), FP1 pacesetter Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) and Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) sit inside the top 10 on Day 1 – 0.882s splits P1 to P10.

World Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) suffered a crash at the final corner with 15 minutes of the opening day left, the young Spaniard was perfectly ok though and eventually got shuffled down to P16. Second in the title race Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team), after his stunning Le Mans victory, had a quiet day at the office to join Acosta in placing outside the top 14, the Spaniard is P17 on Friday.

Make sure you tune into Moto3™ FP3 from Mugello at 09:00 local time (GMT+2) on Saturday morning, it’ll be the session that decides the automatic Q2 qualifiers.

Top 10 combined:
1. Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) – 1:56.661
2. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) +0.196
3. John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.281
4. Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) + 0.509
5. Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesia Racing Gresini Moto3) + 0.595
6. Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.636
7. Deniz Oncu (Red Bull KTM Tech3) + 0.664
8. Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia Esponsorama Moto3) + 0.719
9. Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) + 0.836
10. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.882