Pedro Acosta puts KTM on top in Mugello warm-up

Pedro Acosta and KTM returned to the top of the MotoGP timesheets for the first time since warm-up at Le Mans by leading the same Sunday morning session at Mugello.

The GASGAS Tech3 rookie, newly confirmed as moving to the factory Red Bull KTM team in 2025, moved to the top on his penultimate lap of the ten-minute session.

Acosta, who finished third in the Saturday Sprint behind the Ducatis of Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, ran soft tyres front and rear to finish 0.082s clear of Enea Bastianini.

Riding in Sunday’s special blue livery, Bastianini bounced back from his Saturday accident, following contact with Martin, with countryman Franco Morbidelli making it two Italians in the top three.

Bastianini’s team-mate and Sprint winner Bagnaia was a cautious 18th, and the final rider within one second of Acosta.

Bagnaia, chasing his third Mugello grand prix win in a row, has a three-place grid penalty for today’s race, after obstructing Alex Marquez on Friday.

That means he will drop to fifth on the grid, moving Vinales to second behind Martin and Marc Marquez onto the front row.

Alex Marquez was the quickest of the GP23 Ducatis this morning in fourth place, with Sprint runner-up Marc Marquez in ninth.

A Marquez victory today would mean the #93 claiming Ducati’s 93rd grand prix win, extending a pattern of the 27th by #27 (Casey Stoner), 63rd by #63 (Bagnaia), 72nd by #72 (Marco Bezzecchi) and 89th by #89 (Jorge Martin).

Jorge Martin, seeking answers after a strange fall from third in the Sprint, was sixth (+0.332s).

Aleix Espargaro led the Aprilia challenge in seventh, ahead of 2023-spec RS-GP rider Raul Fernandez.

Maverick Vinales completed the top ten, followed by the KTMs of Brad Binder and wild-card Pol Espargaro.

Fabio Quartararo, taken down by Miguel Oliveira early in the Sprint, was the top Yamaha in 13th (+0.741s).