Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) left it late to sit top of the pile in a rain-soaked MotoGP™ FP3 at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, the Italian setting a 1:54.710 on his final flying lap to beat second fastest Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) by 0.174. Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Franco Morbidelli was third but it’s his teammate Fabio Quartararo who remains top overall, thanks to Friday’s dry running.
???? @Petrux9 pinches top spot in FP3!
— MotoGP™ ???????? (@MotoGP) October 19, 2019
The Ducati man leaves it late to claim the fastest time at a rain-soaked Motegi! ????#JapaneseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/PZ4QRMQ0BZ
The forecasted rainfall certainly didn’t shy away during MotoGP™ FP3 at the Twin Ring Motegi as we saw every class tackle the wet conditions ahead of qualifying. In the premier class, 2019 World Champion Marquez was the early pacesetter as the number 93 took no time at all to get down to business in the tricky conditions. Marquez was quickly over a second clear of his competitors, and it stayed that way until Team Suzuki Ecstar test rider and Japanese GP wildcard Sylvain Guintoli cut the gap to below a second with just over 15 minutes remaining.
Riders such as Petrucci, teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) were slowly chipping away at Marquez’ time and on his final flying lap, Petrux went red in all three sectors to claim P1 in FP3. Behind second place Marquez and third place Morbidelli was Viñales, with Guintoli impressing in the wet conditions to finish P5. Dovizioso was just over a second off Marquez in P6, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Friday pacesetter Quartararo, Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Red Bull KTM Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira split by less than a tenth in the top 10.
Check out @ValeYellow46's braking technique into the final corner at Motegi! ????????#JapaneseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/iOZQIRtaWY
— MotoGP™ ???????? (@MotoGP) October 19, 2019
Will qualifying be wet? It certainly looks that way at the minute and your automatic Q2 places are decided on Friday’s top 10. See the combined standings HERE ahead of Q1 and Q2 which comes your way at 15:05 and 15:30 local time (GMT+9).
FP3 top 10:
1. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) – 1:54.710
2. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.174
3. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.465
4. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.748
5. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.880
6. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) + 1.012
7. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 1.086
8. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 1.101
9. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 1.114
10. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 1.150
Click here for the full FP3 results!