Vinales buoys Yamaha by leading practice three

Maverick Vinales gave Yamaha some hope at the Red Bull Ring by leading Saturday morning practice for MotoGP’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Having struggled on Friday, Yamaha began the day with both Vinales and Valentino Rossi outside the automatic Q2 places, and championship leader Fabio Quartararo only just clinging onto one in 10th in combined times.

Heavy morning rain looked set to deny Yamaha and everyone else a chance to improve, and though the sun was out by the time the session began it took a long time for pace to approach competitive times.

Vinales and Miguel Oliveira were the initial pacesetters on the damp track, but were 8s off Friday’s best times.

Alex Marquez and Bradley Smith started a move towards slicks in the closing stages, and were soon joined by the whole field.

And it was Vinales who was first to start improving, knocking Quartararo out of the Q2 spots and eventually working down to a 1m24.317s to top practice three and get to third on combined times.

Quartararo had to scrap to get back into the Q2 positions, eventually doing so with a lap that put him eighth in the Saturday morning right at the end.

That effort put Brno polesitter Johann Zarco down into Q1. The Avintia Ducati was only 18th this morning.

Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller was Vinales’ closest challenger in the session, lapping 0.046s slower. Andrea Dovizioso on the top works Ducati and Suzuki pacesetter Alex Rins filled out the leading quartet, followed by Tech3 KTM rider Oliveira and Rins’s team-mate Joan Mir.

Pol Espargaro was seventh but remained fastest on combined times.

His Brno winning KTM team-mate Brad Binder was only 19th quickest and will have to go through Q1 this time.

Also consigned to Q1 are Valentino Rossi, the second factory Ducati of Danilo Petrucci and Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda. His team-mate Takaaki Nakagami is the only Honda straight into the pole shootout.

The works Hondas of Alex Marquez and Stefan Bradl were back in 17th and 21st this morning, while Bradl’s fellow stand-in rider Michele Pirro was a strong 12th as he steps in for the injured Francesco Bagnaia at Pramac Ducati.

Straight into Q2: P Espargaro, Dovizioso, Vinales, Miller, Nakagami, Rins, Oliveira, Mir, Morbidelli, Quartararo

In Q1: Zarco, Petrucci, Rossi, Crutchlow, Lecuona, Binder, Pirro, A Espargaro, A Marquez, Smith, Bradl, Rabat

Practice 3 Results