Australia MotoGP: Marquez tops FP3, Bastianini into Q1

Riders were greeted with cold, sunny conditions for the third 45-minute session of the weekend, times immediately dipping into the 1m30s.

On six minutes hometown hero Jack Miller was the first to dip under 90 seconds with a 1m29.962s. That was his best time of the weekend to that point but not enough to move him into the combined Top 10.

Miller's time wasn't the benchmark for the session for long, Friday pacesetter Johann Zarco swiftly taking over top spot with a 1m29.719s.

The first change to the Q2 order came at the 10-minute mark when Miguel Oliveira vaulted to the top of the FP3 standings with a 1m29.658s.

That took him to 11th on the combined times to fifth.

The next change at the top didn't come for 15 minutes, a two-lap stint from Fabio Quartararo moving him into second before before he moved clear of Oliveira with a 1m29.620s – just 0.06s shy of his FP2 effort.

At the 15-minute mark Oliveira went for another green tyre run, using a medium front and soft rear to jump back ahead of Quartararo on the FP3 standings with a 1m29.534s.

With 12 minutes to go the times really started to tumble, Joan Mir (1m29.353s) and Maverick Vinales (1m29.196s) enjoying brief stints on top of the combined times as the FP2 times fell by the wayside.

However it was Jorge Martin that really shifted the benchmark with a 2m28.616s that left him half a second clear of the field.

By the time the session got into its final 10 minutes the combined Top 10 was made up solely of FP3 times, Marco Bezzecchi closing the gap to Martin at the front to just over a tenth.

With five minutes to go Miller made his play at a Top 10 spot, the Aussie charging all the way to third with a 1m28.822s.

Miller then improved to a 1m28.721s on his next run, giving him a tiny bit of breathing space for the frantic final few minutes of the session.

Amid a flurry of improvements in the Top 10 with three minutes to go, Luca Marini jumped everybody to head the field with a 1m28.592s.

That bumped Quartararo outside of the combined Top 10 leaving the series leader facing the prospect of a Q1 berth if he couldn't improve on his last run.

The picture continued to change right down to the flag, when Marquez fired to the top with a 1m28.462s.

That left him just over a tenth clear of Marini and Martin as Aleix Espargaro cemented his passage to Q2 with a 1m28.639s on his final run.

Bezzecchi moved back ahead of Miller with a 1m28.690s on his final run, the Ducati pair left fifth and sixth, while Alex Marquez and title contender Francesco Bagnaia improved late to pop into seventh and eighth respectively.

Vinales held onto ninth with a 1m28.777s while Quartararo just squeezed into the best 10 with a last-gasp 1m28.858s.

That left Enea Bastianini as the only of the five title contenders to miss out on direct passage to Q2, the Gresini Ducati rider only good enough for 14th behind Zarco, Joan Mir and Cal Crutchlow.

Track action continues at Phillip Island with Free Practice 4 at 1:30pm local time followed by Q1 at 2:10pm and Q2 at 2:35pm.

2022 Australian GP Free Practice 3 results

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Interval
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'28.462
2	10	Luca Marini	Ducati	1'28.592	0.130	0.130
3	89	Jorge Martin	Ducati	1'28.616	0.154	0.024
4	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'28.639	0.177	0.023
5	72	Marco Bezzecchi	Ducati	1'28.690	0.228	0.051
6	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'28.721	0.259	0.031
7	73	Alex Marquez	Honda	1'28.765	0.303	0.044
8	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'28.768	0.306	0.003
9	12	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia	1'28.777	0.315	0.009
10	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1'28.858	0.396	0.081
11	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1'28.903	0.441	0.045
12	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'28.920	0.458	0.017
13	35	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	1'28.945	0.483	0.025
14	23	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	1'29.023	0.561	0.078
15	44	Pol Espargaro	Honda	1'29.095	0.633	0.072
16	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1'29.133	0.671	0.038
17	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'29.144	0.682	0.011
18	49	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Ducati	1'29.526	1.064	0.382
19	25	Raúl Fernández	KTM	1'29.527	1.065	0.001
20	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1'29.589	1.127	0.062
21	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1'29.654	1.192	0.065
22	87	Remy Gardner	KTM	1'29.691	1.229	0.037
23	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Honda	1'30.073	1.611	0.382
24	40	Darryn Binder	Yamaha	1'30.336	1.874	0.263
View full results