Algarve MotoGP: Bagnaia pips Quartararo in third practice

Despite clear skies bathed in bright sunshine, conditions were cold for the third 45-minute session of the Algarve weekend.

This meant lap time improvements on the combined order were few and far between for most of FP3.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir was the first major improver on the combined order, the 2020 world champion moving up to third with a 1m39.586s – which also put him top of the individual FP3 timesheet.

But this would be the most significant lap for some time, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami the only other rider able to improve into the top 10 with 25 minutes of the session gone.

Despite the lack of combined order improvements, the field still went for fresh slicks in the closing stages for a final time attack to try and secure a direct place in Q2 for this afternoon’s qualifying.

With seven minutes to go Quartararo finally bettered his Friday time with a 1m39.206s to slightly extend his advantage at the top of the combined timesheets.

But it wouldn’t keep him top for long, as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia found 0.004s to edge ahead with a 1m39.202s moments later.

A flurry of late lap times would shake up the top 10 order as the session wound down, but Bagnaia would remain fastest of all.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

However, Yamaha’s Quartararo found a 1m39.203s on his final lap to shadow Bagnaia by 0.001s – setting up a titanic battle for pole position later today.

Mir completed the top three, missing top spot by just 0.025s on his Suzuki, with Ducati’s Jack Miller jumping up to fourth late on ahead of top Honda runner Alex Marquez on the LCR-run RC213V.

Franco Morbidelli had a wild ride to sixth on the second of the factory Yamahas ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins, while Pol Espargaro bagged a place in Q2 on the factory Honda ahead of Avintia rookie Luca Marini and Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

Just 0.461s covered the top 10, with Nakagami denied a place in Q2 by 0.005s from Tech3’s Iker Lecuona, who was comfortably top KTM on a continuing difficult weekend for the Austrian brand.

Home hero Miguel Oliveira – who said on Friday he’s “hit a wall” in terms of going faster – did manage to find nine tenths compared to his Friday best, but that was still only good enough for 15th and was still 0.859s off the pace.

He’ll face Q1 later along with the likes of Petronas SRT duo Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, and both Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	18	1'39.202
2	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	20	1'39.203	0.001
3	Joan Mir	Suzuki	16	1'39.227	0.025
4	Jack Miller	Ducati	19	1'39.362	0.160
5	Alex Marquez	Honda	20	1'39.375	0.173
6	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	19	1'39.476	0.274
7	Alex Rins	Suzuki	20	1'39.550	0.348
8	Pol Espargaro	Honda	18	1'39.552	0.350
9	Luca Marini	Ducati	18	1'39.580	0.378
10	Jorge Martin	Ducati	19	1'39.663	0.461
11	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	19	1'39.668	0.466
12	Iker Lecuona	KTM	19	1'39.883	0.681
13	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	18	1'39.936	0.734
14	Johann Zarco	Ducati	19	1'39.995	0.793
15	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	19	1'40.061	0.859
16	Danilo Petrucci	KTM	17	1'40.207	1.005
17	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	19	1'40.213	1.011
18	Brad Binder	KTM	17	1'40.213	1.011
19	Stefan Bradl	Honda	20	1'40.282	1.080
20	Andrea Dovizioso	Yamaha	19	1'40.364	1.162
21	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia	15	1'40.616	1.414
22	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	18	1'40.826	1.624
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