Nakagami fastest in MotoGP warm-up, Vinales second but crashes

Takaaki Nakagami topped a second consecutive Sunday morning MotoGP warm-up session for LCR Honda. 

The Japanese rider was fastest during the equivalent session seven days ago in Mugello, but Nakagami will be hoping for a much better race in Barcelona than the one he had in Italy, which involved a crash late on. 

Nakagami posted a best lap of 1:39.783s - less than half a tenth quicker than Maverick Vinales who suffered a bizarre fall late on. 

Vinales was on a slower lap and lost the front at turn seven. Third fastest was Franco Morbidelli who continued to show race pace that could see him challenge for a podium during today’s race. 

Second in the championship, Johann Zarco was fourth quickest ahead of his front row start, while fellow Frenchman and championship leader Fabio Quartararo was fifth. 

Quartararo spent the warm-up session trying the hard rear tyre - something he said he would do before making a decision between that or the medium. 

Honda’s good start to race day saw Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez secure top ten spots with sixth and eighth. 

Seventh was Francesco Bagnaia who will start the Catalunya Grand Prix from ninth place, while Joan Mir and Valentino Rossi rounded out the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively. 

A few riders headed out on wet tyres at the beginning of warm-up in order to scrub a set in should it rain later on. The riders who did were Marc Marquez, Aleix Espargaro and Nakagami. 

Jack Miller was 14th fastest but also made a bike swap halfway through the session.