MotoGP

Morbidelli leads Zarco in ultra-close Brno practice

by Matt Beer
3 min read

Franco Morbidelli was fastest in Saturday morning practice for MotoGP’s Czech Grand Prix at Brno, ahead of another strong run from Johann Zarco.

With a host of underdogs making it into the automatic Q2 places, riders who’ll have to battle it out in Q1 include Ducati’s title hope Andrea Dovizioso and Suzuki’s Alex Rins.

Morbidelli’s 1m56.037s on the Petronas SRT Yamaha put him in front by just 0.016s over Zarco on Avintia’s 2019-specification Ducati.

The strong run from Zarco – top Ducati rider all weekend so far – prevented another SRT 1-2 by pushing championship leader Fabio Quartararo back to third.

Johann Zarco Avintia Ducati Brno MotoGP 2020

The Espargaro brothers both starred with late runs as Pol put his KTM fourth and Aleix gave Aprilia its first Q2 place of 2020 in sixth.

They sandwiched Valentino Rossi, who was briefly second in the closing stages before being pushed back to 10th and then rebounding into a safer position.

Cal Crutchlow was the only Honda rider to grab a direct pass to Q2, putting his LCR bike eighth between Joan Mir and Maverick Vinales with a late lap that helped knock his Friday morning pacesetting team-mate Takaaki Nakagami back into Q1.

Nakagami ended up down in 12th between Rins and Dovizioso, all of them under half a second off the pace around the near-two-minute lap.

Danilo Petrucci Ducati Brno MotoGP 2020

Both factory Ducatis had spent most of the session outside the top 10, but Danilo Petrucci grabbed the last automatic Q2 spot late on.

Tech3 KTM rider Miguel Oliveira looked well on course for a Q2 place with his final run, only to crash at the last corners and end up 18th.

Pramac is only running one bike for the rest of the weekend fellowing Francesco Bagnaia’s Friday injury. Jack Miller was 14th on its remaining Ducati, with factory test rider Michele Pirro expected to join him for the upcoming Austria races.

Practice 3 Results

Pos Name Team Bike Gap Next Gap Leader Best Time
1 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 1m56.037s
2 Johann Zarco Avintia Racing Ducati +0.016s +0.016s 1m56.053s
3 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha +0.081s +0.097s 1m56.134s
4 Pol Espargaró Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.006s +0.103s 1m56.14s
5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha +0.01s +0.113s 1m56.15s
6 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +0.033s +0.146s 1m56.183s
7 Joan Mir Team Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki +0.078s +0.224s 1m56.261s
8 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda +0.002s +0.226s 1m56.263s
9 Maverick Viñales Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha +0.019s +0.245s 1m56.282s
10 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Team Ducati +0.012s +0.257s 1m56.294s
11 Alex Rins Team Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki +0.061s +0.318s 1m56.355s
12 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda +0.102s +0.42s 1m56.457s
13 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team Ducati +0.064s +0.484s 1m56.521s
14 Jack Miller Pramac Racing Ducati +0.069s +0.553s 1m56.59s
15 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.14s +0.693s 1m56.73s
16 Tito Rabat Avintia Racing Ducati +0.301s +0.994s 1m57.031s
17 Bradley Smith Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +0.021s +1.015s 1m57.052s
18 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM +0.019s +1.034s 1m57.071s
19 Alex Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.264s +1.298s 1m57.335s
20 Stefan Bradl Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.174s +1.472s 1m57.509s
21 Iker Lecuona Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM +0.06s +1.532s 1m57.569s
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