MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo topped the Saturday morning MotoGP practice session at Aragon, outpacing Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro by 0.023s.
Quartararo was seventh on combined times on Friday, but managed to find a solution to his final-sector weakness and elevated himself into the top spot with a minute left on the FP3 clock.
Aprilia rider Espargaro then came up just short of toppling him at the flag, with Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) completing the top four as the only other riders to dip below the 1m47s mark.
Friday leader Jack Miller (Ducati) took until the very end to improve on his opening-day time but ultimately did enough for fifth place, just 0.133s off Quartararo, with Ducati stablemate Jorge Martin (Pramac) elevating himself from last place into sixth in the final minutes.
Pol Espargaro, Marc Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami made it three Hondas going directly into Q2, even though Marquez crashed when pushing for an insurance fast lap late on at the sharp Turn 14.
Not how @marcmarquez93 wanted to end his session! 😲
The Spaniard is safely through to Q2 though! 💢#AragonGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/GSsFesqyfv
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 11, 2021
His brother Alex would’ve likely joined the other three RC213Vs in Q2 if not for a late crash of his own that consigned him to contesting Q1.
Instead, Enea Bastianini (Avintia Ducati) completed the Q2 spots, narrowly beating out the likes of Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati), Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha), Miguel Oliveira (KTM) and Alex Rins (Suzuki).
Aprilia newcomer Maverick Vinales was just 0.863s off Quartararo’s lap but ended up 17th and will contest Q1 later today.
Likewise impressive was Petronas Yamaha stand-in Jake Dixon, last but only 1.496s off the pace and within nine tenths of seven-time MotoGP champion team-mate Valentino Rossi.
Practice 3 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1m46.926s | ||
| 2 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.023s | +0.023s | 1m46.949s |
| 3 | Joan Mir | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.033s | +0.056s | 1m46.982s |
| 4 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.002s | +0.058s | 1m46.984s |
| 5 | Jack Miller | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.075s | +0.133s | 1m47.059s |
| 6 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.061s | +0.194s | 1m47.12s |
| 7 | Pol Espargaró | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.014s | +0.208s | 1m47.134s |
| 8 | Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.051s | +0.259s | 1m47.185s |
| 9 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | +0.071s | +0.33s | 1m47.256s |
| 10 | Enea Bastianini | Avintia Esponsorama Racing | Ducati | +0.02s | +0.35s | 1m47.276s |
| 11 | Johann Zarco | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.052s | +0.402s | 1m47.328s |
| 12 | Cal Crutchlow | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.025s | +0.427s | 1m47.353s |
| 13 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.036s | +0.463s | 1m47.389s |
| 14 | Alex Rins | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.007s | +0.47s | 1m47.396s |
| 15 | Valentino Rossi | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.155s | +0.625s | 1m47.551s |
| 16 | Alex Marquez | LCR Honda Castrol | Honda | +0.122s | +0.747s | 1m47.673s |
| 17 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.116s | +0.863s | 1m47.789s |
| 18 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.016s | +0.879s | 1m47.805s |
| 19 | Iker Lecuona | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.024s | +0.903s | 1m47.829s |
| 20 | Luca Marini | SKY VR46 Avintia Team | Ducati | +0.264s | +1.167s | 1m48.093s |
| 21 | Danilo Petrucci | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.304s | +1.471s | 1m48.397s |
| 22 | Jake Dixon | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.025s | +1.496s | 1m48.422s |
