FP3: Bezzecchi and Marini take charge at Misano

Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) leads the way into Moto2™ qualifying at the Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. The Italian set a 1:36.512 in FP3 to beat teammate Luca Marini by 0.083 on Saturday morning, with Remy Gardner (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) completing the top three, the Australian 0.216 off the pace.

Many riders were able to beat their Friday times early on in the FP3 session at Misano, with Marini and Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) getting the better of Enea Bastianini’s (Italtrans Racing Team) fastest FP2 time in the opening handful of laps. Bezzecchi shortly moved about Bastianini too and sat P3, before the Styrian GP winner then went top of the pile. Another early improver was Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing), the British rider making his way to P5 from P19 with a great lap.

Bastianini took his time to properly get going in FP3 after setting the pace in FP2, but the 2021 MotoGP™ rider climbed his way back up to P5 in the latter stages of the session that saw a few riders crash. Aron Canet (Onceanica Aspar Team Moto2) was on a personal best lap time before the stellar rookie was down at the final corner, with Canet crashing at the tight and tricky Turn 14 later on in the session. Meanwhile, Marini found some extra speed to leapfrog Lowes into second to make it a SKY Racing Team VR46 1-2 at the summit.

Gardner then made his move up the timesheets to go to P3 from outside the top 10, with Tetsuta Nagashima – the sole Red Bull KTM Ajo bike on track – went to P5 in the closing stages. In the end though, no one had an answer for Bezzecchi, the two Italians showing they know the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli like the back of their hand in FP3 to set the standard ahead of Q1 and Q2.

Third to seventh are all two tenths shy of the VR46 duo, with Gardner leading fourth place Lowes by 0.024 in Free Practice. Nagashima got the better of Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) by 0.026, with seventh place Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) 0.299 off P1. Bastianini slipped down to P8, with the two Petronas Sprinta Racing bikes closing out the top 10 – Xavi Vierge going well late on to beat Dixon by just 0.002 seconds.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (+Ego Speed Up), Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing) and Hector Garzo (FlexBox HP 40) crashed in FP3 – all riders ok.

Can anyone stop the Italian stranglehold when Moto2™ head out for qualifying at 15:10 (GMT+2)? Tune in to find out…

Top 10 combined:
1. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) – 1:36.512
2. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 0.083
3. Remy Gardner (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) + 0.216
4. Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 0.240
5. Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.262
6. Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 0.288
7. Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) + 0.299
8. Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) + 0.379
9. Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.397
10. Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.399

Click here for the full results!