08/14/2021 |
Christina Bulpett |
MotoGP
Image: GeeBee Pictures
Ducati Lenovo’s Pecco Bagnaia led the FP3 on Saturday with a 1: 22.874, just 0.047 seconds behind Johann Zarco’s record MotoGP time in Spielberg.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo took second place in the morning practice ahead of his compatriot. The Pramac driver used the session to work on the impressive and constant rhythm of his Desmosedici. Jorge Martin cannot continue in the late session after crashing.
Pol Espargaro led FP3 on Saturday morning, the Ducati of Bagnaia and Zarco took the lead with their third laps, while Quartararo entered the fight in fourth. Marc Marquez was next to strike and beat the French as times got closer to Friday’s – albeit still nearly a second behind Zarco’s record – before the Yamaha improved to second place.
A fall at turn one left Enea Bastianini on the sidelines after just 10 minutes on the track as Zarco replicated his skills on Friday with another session peak time on his Pramac machine, his current best time of 1’23.484. Teammate Martin repeated last weekend’s confidence by setting the third-best time of the session so far, his 1’23.6, which thanks to Joan Mir’s performance on Friday earned fourth place in the combined classification.
Bagnaia continued the Ducati power in fourth place when Brad Binder separated the Repsol Hondas from sixth position while Alex Rins, Jack Miller and Luca Marini finished the top 10 at halftime.
I was on the move through the second half, with the Suzuki rider securing second overall with a 1: 23.560 as he exceeded his previous efforts before Quartararo ventured onto a new soft rear end. 1’23.203 the initial reward for the Yamaha man, but there was still more in the tank, but as he pushed further, 1’22.975 the ultimate effort when he was 0.14 seconds behind his compatriot’s benchmark with 15 minutes to go.
Aleix Espargaro was under pressure as the watch hit 10 minutes, 1’23.222 and he was comfortably seated in the combined top three, while Bagnaia chased hard, finishing third in the session and fourth overall, just 0.022 seconds back.
Miller’s last Ducati continued to fight and seemed to be heading for Q1 from 13th in the overall standings, as the Australian was a little more than a second behind the fastest time, with Valentino Rossi as company, with a 1: 23.901.
The younger Espargaro was looking for improvement early in the last five minutes, with the second Repsol sitting painfully on the edge of the promotion zone as Miller moved up to ninth place.
Rins was the driver who ousted his compatriot when the Suzuki finished sixth, Rossi narrowly missed the top 10 when Miller moved up to fifth. Takaaki Nakagami and Binder joined the fight in seventh and eighth place when Bagnaia took the lead with a 1’22.874, just behind Zarco’s record.
In the final excitement, Rins was contesting the Q2 competition for 0.001 seconds when the disaster struck last week’s pole man. Martin slipped at Turn 10 and failed to secure his promotion as the yellow flags are imminent while Miguel Oliveira makes final headway in the process.
Bagnaia took over the session from Quartararo and Zarco, with the Pramac man in control of the total time. Marquez led Aprilias Espargaro and Miller with Mir, Nakagami, Binder and his Repsol teammate who secured automatic entry into the pole shootout this afternoon.
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