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Practice report

Mugello MotoGP: Bagnaia remains on top in FP3, Vinales to Q1

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia topped FP3 for the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix with a new Mugello lap record as a late crash for Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales dropped him into Q1.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Pleasant conditions for the start of FP3 meant combined timesheet improvements were had almost instantly, with KTM’s Miguel Oliveira – armed with the RC16’s new chassis and fuel – jumping up to fourth overall and top in the session with a 1m46.331s early doors.

Pramac’s Johann Zarco fired in a 1m46.201s moments later to take over top spot in FP3 and move up to second on the combined times, finding a substantial six tenths on his Friday best.

His factory Ducati counterpart Bagnaia held onto top spot on the combined times based on his Friday best until the final 15 minutes of the session, when Yamaha’s Quartararo began to light up the timing screen.

The championship leader went fastest of all with a 1m45.807s, bettering this to a 1m45.701s on his following tour.

Quartararo’s charge continued with five minutes to go as he found a fraction more time to eke out his advantage at the top of the timesheets with a 1m45.613s.

Dropping to the cusp of the Q2 places as the session neared its conclusion, Bagnaia dug deep to set a new Mugello lap record of 1m45.456s to go top with just over two minutes remaining.

At the same time Yamaha’s Vinales slid off his M1 at the Correntaio right-hander at Turn 12, ending his session prematurely and putting him under pressure to actually secure a direct Q2 place for qualifying.

Bagnaia’s time went unchallenged at the end, the Italian heading Quartararo as KTM’s Brad Binder – who equalled MotoGP’s all-time top speed record of 362.4km/h in FP3 – jumping up to third late on.

Jack Miller on the other factory Ducati was another late improver with a 1m45.701s, as was Zarco in fifth spot.

These improvements shoved Suzuki’s Alex Rins out of the top 10 in the dying stages, but he moved to sixth with a 1m45.725s – a lap which pushed Vinales into Q1 in 11th.

Oliveira ensured both factory KTMs have secured direct passage to Q2 this afternoon ahead of world champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki, Honda’s sole representative so far in Q2 Pol Espargaro and Franco Morbidelli on the two-year-old Petronas SRT Yamaha.

Vinales’ late crash meant he missed a place directly in Q2 by just 0.030s, while the top 10 was split by only 0.409s.

The Yamaha ruder will be joined by a struggling Marc Marquez on the Honda in Q1 later this afternoon, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – who had to have a “coke can” of fluid drained from his arm after Friday following recent arm pump surgery – slipping to 13th.

Valentino Rossi did find some pace on Saturday, but will go into Q1 having only been able to go 18th-fastest in FP3 on his SRT Yamaha with a 1m46.358s.

Mugello MotoGP - FP3 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'45.456
2 20 France Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'45.613 0.157
3 33 South Africa Brad Binder
KTM 1'45.652 0.196
4 43 Australia Jack Miller
Ducati 1'45.701 0.245
5 5 France Johann Zarco
Ducati 1'45.725 0.269
6 42 Spain Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'45.754 0.298
7 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'45.791 0.335
8 36 Spain Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'45.825 0.369
9 44 Spain Pol Espargaro
Honda 1'45.858 0.402
10 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'45.865 0.409
11 12 Spain Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'45.895 0.439
12 93 Spain Marc Marquez
Honda 1'46.013 0.557
13 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'46.015 0.559
14 51 Italy Michele Pirro
Ducati 1'46.103 0.647
15 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'46.311 0.855
16 10 Italy Luca Marini
Ducati 1'46.332 0.876
17 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci
KTM 1'46.355 0.899
18 46 Italy Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'46.358 0.902
19 32 Italy Lorenzo Savadori
Aprilia 1'46.447 0.991
20 23 Italy Enea Bastianini
Ducati 1'46.627 1.171
21 73 Spain Alex Marquez
Honda 1'46.853 1.397
22 27 Spain Iker Lecuona
KTM 1'47.247 1.791

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