Miller quickest as the rain appears in FP3

The Ducati Lenovo Team’s Jack Miller has set the fastest lap of the weekend so far at the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini in an FP3 session which was energised by spots of rain. Riders ran on slick Michelin tyres throughout, Miller using his to set a lap time as quick as a 1:31.296, but it is a warning sign that qualifying this afternoon at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli could be very tricky indeed. It is an all-Ducati top three on the combined timesheet with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) second on a 1:31.367 and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) third on a the 1:31.517 which he set on Friday.

Bologna bullets continue to fire

As was the case on the opening day of the San Marino GP weekend, if you weren’t on a Ducati, you weren’t going fastest. Miller accumulated a total of 30 laps on used tyres as he gathered long run data before taking new soft Michelin slicks on the front and rear of his Desmosedici to lay down the 1:31.296 inside the final nine minutes of the session. Bagnaia lost a 1:31.515 moments later due to a breach of track limits, but still managed to move up to second place when he clocked a 1:31.371 and then a 1:31.367 in the final three minutes with a hard front and a soft rear on the #63 entry. He will need to keep up the pace in qualifying given the three-position grid penalty against his name.

Bastianini only went as quick as a 1:32.395 in FP3 but had his FP2 benchmark of 1:31.517 to fall back on in terms of getting into Q2. World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was among those who was on a time attack when the rain briefly fell in Sector 4 with between 10 and 15 minutes remaining, but was also pushing the limits again in the dry. He eventually earned fourth on combined times with a 1:31.644 on his Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ entry, one position up on Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who set a 1:31.707. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) was sixth for the three sessions overall with his FP2 time of 1:31.837.

High drama thanks to yellow flags

Aprilia Racing duo Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaro got through to Q2 in seventh and eighth all-told on a 1:31.844 and a 1:31.929 respectively, while there was high drama in terms of deciding the final top 10. With the chequered flag out and riders having completed their final laps, Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) was 11th despite having an identical personal-best lap time to 10th-placed Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), but was then moved up when the latter lost his time because it was set with a yellow flag out. Then Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) was relegated to 15th when he suffered the same fate and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was into the top 10 – while Bezzecchi officially missed out by just 0.001 seconds!

It was a crash for Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) at Turn 3 which caused the yellow flag which cost the VR46 pilot, and the Japanese rider was far from alone in coming off his bike during FP3. Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) was first to hit the deck, at Turn 14, before a spill for Fabio Di Giannantinio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) at Turn 6, and a fast off for Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) at Turn 15. Ironically, Oliveira also took a tumble in the final three minutes before Nakagami’s crashed rescued his Q2 aspirations.

With changeable weather on the horizon, it is a potentially vital FP4 session this Saturday afternoon. Tune in from 13:30 (GMT +2)!

MotoGP™ Top 10:
1. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1:31.296
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.071
3. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 0.221
4. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.348
5. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.411
6. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.541
7. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) + 0.548
8. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.633
9. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.641
10. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.659

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