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Misano MotoGP: Quartararo comfortably fastest in FP3

Petronas Yamaha rookie Fabio Quartararo set a blistering pace in the Saturday morning MotoGP practice session at Misano.

Fabio Quartararo, Petronas Yamaha SRT

Fabio Quartararo, Petronas Yamaha SRT

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Quartararo fired in a late 1m32.081s to outpace nearest rival Maverick Vinales by 0.356s, with only three other riders managing to lap within a second of the Frenchman.

The top three in both of Friday's practice session - Vinales, Quartararo and Marc Marquez - reassumed their usual positions at the sharp end from the get go in FP3, with the Honda man setting a 1m33.051s to lead Vinales by three hundredths and Quartararo by a tenth.

Quartararo improved to within 0.052s of Marquez early in the second half of the session, and Vinales was then up on the reigning champion's time after three sectors on two separate occasions, but Marquez's laptime held out until the final minutes.

Vinales then used a fresh pair of soft tyres to put together a 1m32.437s, going six tenths clear in FP3 and overhauling his own benchmark from Friday.

However, Quartararo responded immediately with an effort just under a tenth quicker, before lowering the benchmark further still with his next attempt and making sure of the top spot.

Behind the two Yamahas, Pol Espargaro was a standout third for KTM, seeing off Marquez by less than half a tenth despite the championship leader improving at the end.

Quartararo's teammate Franco Morbidelli shot up to fifth at the chequered flag, leading LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami and Valentino Rossi, who made it four Yamahas in the top seven.

Suzuki's Alex Rins faced a potential battle through Q1, but managed to fight his way into the top 10 at the last moment, taking eighth ahead of the two Ducatis of wildcard Michele Pirro and Andrea Dovizioso.

Rins' last-gasp heroics denied KTM's Johann Zarco a spot in Q2, the Frenchman missing out by just 0.033s - with Tech 3's Miguel Oliveira only another half a tenth down despite nursing a shoulder injury after his collision with Zarco at Silverstone.

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LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow, Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller and works Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci were among the biggest names to miss out on an automatic Q2 spot.

Also missing out was Jorge Lorenzo in 19th, the three-time champion's FP3 compromised by an apparent problem that manifested itself in the front wheel getting sideways and locking up on the straight.

Aprilia's Andrea Iannone was 22nd, having suffered his second crash of the weekend at the Turn 4 right-hander.

Session results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 20 France Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'32.081
2 12 Spain Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'32.437 0.356
3 44 Spain Pol Espargaro
KTM 1'32.646 0.565
4 93 Spain Marc Marquez
Honda 1'32.686 0.605
5 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'33.056 0.975
6 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'33.098 1.017
7 46 Italy Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'33.103 1.022
8 42 Spain Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'33.140 1.059
9 51 Italy Michele Pirro
Ducati 1'33.294 1.213
10 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati 1'33.340 1.259
11 5 France Johann Zarco
KTM 1'33.373 1.292
12 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'33.426 1.345
13 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow
Honda 1'33.432 1.351
14 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'33.448 1.367
15 36 Spain Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'33.497 1.416
16 43 Australia Jack Miller
Ducati 1'33.550 1.469
17 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci
Ducati 1'33.680 1.599
18 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'33.890 1.809
19 99 Spain Jorge Lorenzo
Honda 1'33.951 1.870
20 53 Spain Tito Rabat
Ducati 1'34.177 2.096
21 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham
Ducati 1'34.423 2.342
22 29 Italy Andrea Iannone
Aprilia 1'34.537 2.456
23 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin
KTM 1'34.644 2.563

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