After Andrea Dovizioso led the way in FP1 under the sunny Tuscan skies of the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley, two-time GP winner Cal Crutchlow struck back in the afternoon to take to the top late in FP2 – just heading ‘DesmoDovi’ by 0.029 on combined times. German rookie Jonas Folger impressed to complete the top three on the first day of running.
Another impressive performance as action opened in Italy saw Ducati test rider Michele Pirro end Friday in fourth with his time from FP1, taking some serious scalps to just head Championship leader Maverick Vinales’ fastest lap was also from Friday morning to put him fifth on combined, with the 2013 Moto3 World Champion suffering a big crash in the afternoon at Arrabiata 2 – rider ok.
Johann Zarco was another man whose fastest lap was an FP1 effort, his best just 0.005 off Vinales to give the Frenchman P6 on Day 1.
Dani Pedrosa improved in the afternoon from a more muted position in FP1 to go seventh, with Hector Barbera just behind the ‘Baby Samurai’ in some much improved form at the Italian GP.Alvaro Bautista was ninth, with the top ten on Day 1 completed by five-time World Champion and five time Mugello winner Jorge Lorenzo.
Andrea Iannone and Danilo Petrucci took P11 and P12 respectively, with reigning Champion Marc Marquez in thirteenth – just ahead of home hero Valentino Rossi as the nine-time World Champion recovers from a motocross crash ahead of the event.
Scott Redding completed the top fifteen on Friday, with FP3 the next focus on Saturday morning as graduation to Q2 qualifying is decided. That qualifying begins with Q1 at 14:10 (GMT +2), followed closely by the all-important Q2.
FP2 Result:
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda | 339.5 | 1’47.365 | |
| 2 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | 350.6 | 1’47.526 | 0.161 / 0.161 |
| 3 | Jonas FOLGER | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 341 | 1’47.543 | 0.178 / 0.017 |
| 4 | Johann ZARCO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 344.2 | 1’47.685 | 0.320 / 0.142 |
| 5 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | 344.4 | 1’47.699 | 0.334 / 0.014 |
| 6 | Hector BARBERA | Reale Avintia Racing | 352.2 | 1’47.710 | 0.345 / 0.011 |
| 7 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 347.8 | 1’47.728 | 0.363 / 0.018 |
| 8 | Andrea IANNONE | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 349.1 | 1’47.807 | 0.442 / 0.079 |
| 9 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati Team | 351.2 | 1’47.883 | 0.518 / 0.076 |
| 10 | Danilo PETRUCCI | OCTO Pramac Racing | 348.2 | 1’47.950 | 0.585 / 0.067 |
| 11 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati Team | 350.6 | 1’47.954 | 0.589 / 0.004 |
| 12 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 341.1 | 1’48.000 | 0.635 / 0.046 |
| 13 | Maverick VIÑALES | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 340.5 | 1’48.014 | 0.649 / 0.014 |
| 14 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 341.6 | 1’48.103 | 0.738 / 0.089 |
| 15 | Scott REDDING | OCTO Pramac Racing | 349.4 | 1’48.111 | 0.746 / 0.008 |
| 16 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 342 | 1’48.129 | 0.764 / 0.018 |
| 17 | Jack MILLER | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 343.5 | 1’48.560 | 1.195 / 0.431 |
| 18 | Tito RABAT | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 343.2 | 1’48.664 | 1.299 / 0.104 |
| 19 | Loris BAZ | Reale Avintia Racing | 338 | 1’48.751 | 1.386 / 0.087 |
| 20 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 337.9 | 1’48.842 | 1.477 / 0.091 |
| 21 | Karel ABRAHAM | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | 346.7 | 1’48.925 | 1.560 / 0.083 |
| 22 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 343 | 1’49.524 | 2.159 / 0.599 |
| 23 | Bradley SMITH | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 343.8 | 1’49.640 | 2.275 / 0.116 |
| 24 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 341.9 | 1’50.054 | 2.689 / 0.41 |