Spanish MotoGP: Nakagami tops FP3, Marquez suffers big crash

So fine were the margins in third practice at Jerez that just 0.98 seconds covered the top seven, while the gap covering those who made it directly into the second part of qualifying stood at 0.193s.

Having spent Friday trying to diagnose his Portimao problems, Maverick Vinales set the early pace in FP3 on his Yamaha with a 1m37.889s.

This didn’t move him up the combined order, but Petronas SRT’s Valentino Rossi and Alex Marquez on the LCR Honda immediately found a better lap time compared to Friday and moved up to 17th and 18th.

The first major change on the combined order came from Marc Marquez, the recovering Honda rider jumping up to fifth in the opening stages with a 1m37.695s.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro took over the top spot in FP3 just over 10 minutes into the session, his 1m37.492s good enough to improve his third place on the combined times.

This stood as the session benchmark for the next 15 minutes, with Franco Morbidelli taking over on his SRT Yamaha with a 1m37.220s – pushing him up to second overall in the process.

Francesco Bagnaia’s Friday benchmark finally fell with 15 minutes of the session remaining when Fabio Quartararo went fastest overall on his Yamaha with a 1m37.010s.

World champion Joan Mir put Quartararo’s lap under pressure as the session entered its final five minutes, the Suzuki rider missing out by just 0.026s.

Moments later Morbidelli blasted the field away with a 1m36.684s, but had this lap scrubbed for exceeding track limits.

This left the door open for LCR’s Nakagami to move up to top spot with his effort of 1m36.985s as he elected to run an older Honda frame having back-to-backed the 2020 and 2021 frames on Friday.

Quartararo put on a late charge to try and reclaim the top spot, but missed out on Nakagami’s best by 0.025s.

HRC test rider Stefan Bradl ended up third, while Mir made it directly into Q2 for the first time this year ahead of Aprilia’s Espargaro.

Vinales completed the top six ahead of Morbidelli, while Bagnaia on his Ducati leaped up to eighth at the death having sat outside the top 10 when the chequered flag fell.

Ducati stablemate Johann Zarco on the Pramac GP21 and the second Suzuki of Alex Rins secured the final direct Q2 slots, with Bagnaia’s late improvement dumping his teammate Jack Miller out in 11th.

Marc Marquez ended the session 12th but suffered his first big crash of his comeback when he slid off at the fast Turn 7 left-hander.

The Honda rider went straight to the air fence but was able to walk away, while his motorcycle was wrecked in the tumble.

Having gone to the medical centre for checks, Honda confirms Marquez "has no major injuries, suffering only a contusion."

KTM’s Brad Binder was the other faller in FP3, the South African suffering a strange crash at the Pons right-hander midway through the session when he appeared to lose it on the grass on the way into the corner.

He will face Q1 with KTM teammate Miguel Oliveira, who was 16th, while Valentino Rossi’s woes continued on his SRT Yamaha in 15th. 

FP3 results:

Cla	#	Rider		Bike	Time	Gap
1	30	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	1'36.985
2	20	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	1'37.010	0.025
3	6	Stefan Bradl		Honda	1'37.026	0.041
4	36	Joan Mir		Suzuki	1'37.036	0.051
5	41	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	1'37.049	0.064
6	12	Maverick Viñales		Yamaha	1'37.083	0.098
7	21	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	1'37.083	0.098
8	63	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	1'37.136	0.151
9	5	Johann Zarco		Ducati	1'37.157	0.172
10	42	Alex Rins		Suzuki	1'37.178	0.193
11	43	Jack Miller		Ducati	1'37.188	0.203
12	93	Marc Marquez		Honda	1'37.354	0.369
13	33	Brad Binder		KTM	1'37.360	0.375
14	73	Alex Marquez		Honda	1'37.642	0.657
15	46	Valentino Rossi		Yamaha	1'37.704	0.719
16	88	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	1'37.710	0.725
17	44	Pol Espargaro		Honda	1'37.753	0.768
18	10	Luca Marini		Ducati	1'37.771	0.786
19	32	Lorenzo Savadori		Aprilia	1'37.814	0.829
20	23	Enea Bastianini		Ducati	1'37.913	0.928
21	9	Danilo Petrucci		KTM	1'37.934	0.949
22	53	Tito Rabat		Ducati	1'38.413	1.428
23	27	Iker Lecuona		KTM	1'38.501	1.516
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