Morbidelli fastest in Qatar, Aleix Espargaro second but falls

Petronas SRT Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli led the daytime third practice session ahead of MotoGP’s season-opening Qatar Grand Prix.

There were widespread expectations in the paddock that the results of this session would have no impact on the combined practice classification and thus the automatic 10 Q2 spots, due to the much more charitable conditions of the Friday night FP2.

“That’s the thing with Qatar, FP1 and FP3 are basically a waste of time because it’s so hot and the conditions are so different, you can’t really compare it to how things are in the afternoon,” KTM rider Brad Binder said on Friday.

And indeed, those who had missed out on the top 10 in FP2 got no chance to make amends in the third session, with its fastest lap – Morbidelli’s 1m54.676s – well over a second slower than Jack Miller’s Friday benchmark.

Yamaha’s trio of Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Vinales and Morbidelli spent the vast majority of the daytime session locking out the top three, before the Petronas Yamaha man jumped ahead of his factory counterparts in the final minutes.

Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro moved up to second place late on, but blotted his near-perfect weekend so far with a Turn 6 crash on his final lap.

A late crash for @AleixEspargaro! 💢

Despite this moment, Aprilia continue to enjoy an impressive weekend! 👊#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/R2PLjFzr8Y

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 27, 2021

He was one of two riders to fall during the session, with Miller the other. The Ducati rider’s Turn 15 fall was his second of the weekend, and he limited himself to only six laps in the session, with fellow works-spec Desmosedici riders Francesco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco playing it safe and rounding out the classification.

SkyVR46-supported Luca Marini, on a year-old Ducati, beat Suzuki’s Alex Rins to third place at the chequered flag, with Quartararo making up the top five.

Champion Joan Mir, who was the highest-profile rider facing Q1 after Friday’s sessions, finished FP3 in sixth and will indeed have to fight his way through the third segment.

Aside from Miller’s and Espargaro’s crashes, there was a sudden stoppage for the Avintia Ducati of reigning Moto2 champion Enea Bastianini in the final minutes.

Q1 later today will be contested by Suzuki rider Mir, the four KTMs (Miguel Oliveira, Brad Binder, Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci), the two LCR Hondas (Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami), the three Ducati rookies (Jorge Martin, Marini and Bastianini), Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori and Honda’s substitute rider Stefan Bradl.

Practice 3 Results