MotoGP

Marquez leads Savadori in wet third MotoGP practice at Le Mans

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
3 min read

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.

Marc Marquez Honda MotoGP Le Mans

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.

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
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