Pol Espargaro leads trio of Yamahas midway through Day 3

We’re midway through Day 3 at the Official 2021 MotoGP™ Qatar Test and currently sitting pretty at the top of the timesheets is Repsol Honda Team’s Pol Espargaro. The Spaniard’s fastest time of the day so far is a 1:54.272, not far away from second place Fabio Quartararo’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) overall best time of the test – a 1:53.940.

It’s two more Yamahas that are currently chasing Pol Espargaro’s time on Day 3. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) occupy P3 and P4 respectively as of 15:30 CET, with HRC test rider Stefan Bradl P5.

Bradl continues to go well at the top of the timesheets but his day has been slightly hampered by a crash at the notorious Turn 2, with HRC teammate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) also crashing today – Turn 1 was where the Japanese rider fell.

Testing schedules are being ramped up. The weather is the best it has been since the paddock landed in Doha and with just two and a half days of pre-season remaining, these hours of track time couldn’t be more important.

Make sure you tune into After the Flag LIVE at 18:30 CET to get all the reaction, analysis and interviews from the third day of official testing action at Losail. And remember, you can keep up with every lap time with Live Timing.

Top 10 as of 15:30 CET:
1. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) – 1:54.272
2. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.316
3. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.442
4. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.618
5. Stefan Bradl (Honda Test Team) + 0.702
6. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.762
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 0.777
8. Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.790
9. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 0.907
10. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 1.064