Marc Marquez tops FP3 on slicks, no change to overall times

A dry line appeared in Mandalika but the FP2 times stay unchanged, seeing Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaro, Mir and Pecco in Q1

 

Despite a dry line appearing in MotoGP™ FP3 at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia, the combined standings remain unchanged from FP2. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was fastest on Saturday morning with a 1:34.067, but it’s reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) who sails into qualifying as the fastest rider. The Frenchman’s 1:31.608 from Friday is 0.030s faster than second place Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) and 0.2s quicker than third place Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), as Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team), Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) face Q1.

Slick tyres appear but no improvements made

Heavy rainfall ahead of the FP3 sessions getting underway meant the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit was wet on Saturday morning. However, with very little rain coming down during the Moto3™ and Moto2™ sessions, a dry line had appeared for the MotoGP™ riders. Unsurprisingly, Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) was the first man to venture out on slick tyres, and immediately went 1.2s clear. Now, it was a case of how close they could get to the times set on Friday afternoon. Miller’s second effort, for context, was over seven seconds shy of Quartararo’s 1:31.608.

 

With 15 minutes to go, the times kept on tumbling. But Marc Marquez’s table-topping time was four seconds away from Quartararo’s pace, 3.5s down on the top 10. Heading into the final 10 minutes, Marc Marquez was 0.3s clear of Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), but his 1:34.868 was still three seconds away from challenging the combined times.

In the end, Marc Marquez and the rest of the field weren’t able to make any inroads into the combined standings, meaning the FP2 timesheets would dictate who enters Q2 automatically. Four World Champions in the form of Marc Marquez, teammate Pol Espargaro, Mir, and Pecco will be fighting it out in Q1.

The automatic Q2 qualifiers

Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) and World Championship leader Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) are safely into the pole position fight this afternoon, as is Miller in sixth place. Aleix Espargaro fronts the Aprilia Racing charge in P7, the Spaniard heads Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo Brad Binder and Oliveira, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) occupying the final top 10 spot.

A fascinating qualifying is coming up in Indonesia at 15:05 local time (GMT+8). Who makes it into Q2, and who grabs the first Mandalika pole position? Tune in to find out. 

Top 10 combined:
1. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) – 1:31.608
2. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.030
3. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 0.285
4. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) + 0.296
5. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 0.313
6. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.357
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.400
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.409
9. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.441
10. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.498 

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