Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez set the fastest time in the third practice session of the French Grand Prix weekend at Le Mans.
It marked the first time Marquez topped a practice session since his comeback from injury, although he’d already topped a qualifying segment at Portimao.
The track was already damp coming into the session, and rain picked up once more as the clock began ticking down, virtually ensuring right away that there would be no changes to the combined practice order – consigning the likes of Suzuki riders Alex Rins and Joan Mir, as well as points leader Francesco Bagnaia, to Q1.
The initial pace was some 17 seconds off Friday’s top time, and though the surface got drier over the course of FP3, Marquez’s eventual 1m40.736s was still nine seconds slower than FP2 – and slicks never made an appearance.
Aprilia rider Lorenzo Savadori, very impressive in the wet so far this weekend. was six tenths behind Marquez, and was followed by Bagnaia, Miguel Oliveira and Pol Espargaro.
There were five manufacturers represented in the top 10, with only Yamaha absent – its efforts led by Maverick Vinales in 16th, 2.8s off the pace.
There were two crashes during the session, as Tech3 KTM rider Iker Lecuona tumbled at the Dunlop chicane left-hander – which caught out so many riders yesterday – and Ducati’s Jack Miller fell at La Chapelle.
But though Miller elected to end his session there and then, neither rider was anywhere near as disturbed as Franco Morbidelli when the Petronas Yamaha rider practiced a flag-to-flag bike swap in the pitlane and appeared to trip onto his second bike, subsequently having to be helped into the pit box by his crew.
A strange incident in pit-lane! 😲@FrankyMorbido12 limps away from his Yamaha after an issue attempting a flag-to-flag practice! 👀#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/r5ujk7X2hT
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 15, 2021
Among those joining Rins, Mir and Bagnaia in Q1 will be Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, with all four having had crashes in the Friday afternoon session.
Practice 3 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1m40.736s | ||
| 2 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.613s | +0.613s | 1m41.349s |
| 3 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.103s | +0.716s | 1m41.452s |
| 4 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.005s | +0.721s | 1m41.457s |
| 5 | Pol Espargaró | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.214s | +0.935s | 1m41.671s |
| 6 | Johann Zarco | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.104s | +1.039s | 1m41.775s |
| 7 | Joan Mir | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.042s | +1.081s | 1m41.817s |
| 8 | Alex Rins | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.238s | +1.319s | 1m42.055s |
| 9 | Iker Lecuona | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.081s | +1.4s | 1m42.136s |
| 10 | Luca Marini | SKY VR46 Avintia Team | Ducati | +0.187s | +1.587s | 1m42.323s |
| 11 | Alex Marquez | LCR Honda Castrol | Honda | +0.193s | +1.78s | 1m42.516s |
| 12 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | +0.004s | +1.784s | 1m42.52s |
| 13 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.012s | +1.796s | 1m42.532s |
| 14 | Danilo Petrucci | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.681s | +2.477s | 1m43.213s |
| 15 | Tito Rabat | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.249s | +2.726s | 1m43.462s |
| 16 | Maverick Viñales | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.084s | +2.81s | 1m43.546s |
| 17 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.154s | +2.964s | 1m43.7s |
| 18 | Enea Bastianini | Avintia Esponsorama Racing | Ducati | +0.04s | +3.004s | 1m43.74s |
| 19 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.019s | +3.023s | 1m43.759s |
| 20 | Jack Miller | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.098s | +3.121s | 1m43.857s |
| 21 | Valentino Rossi | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.159s | +3.28s | 1m44.016s |
| 22 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.107s | +3.387s | 1m44.123s |
