What happened in third MotoGP practice at Le Mans

Local hero Johann Zarco led a Ducati 1-2 in the third MotoGP practice of the French Grand Prix weekend at Le Mans.

Key moments:

> Zarco pips Bagnaia to the spot
> Friday star Bastianini has bike expire, but sneaks into Q2
> Three Hondas in Q2, including a crashing Espargaro
> Martin, Mir, Vinales to Q1

Minutes after Friday pace-setter Enea Bastianini had to park a smoking Ducati GP21 down the escape road his Le Mans lap record was gone, as Fabio Quartararo fired in the first-ever sub-1m31s MotoGP lap of the Bugatti circuit.

The lap came with 10 minutes left on the clock, and as the session drew closer to the end the record was reclaimed by Ducati – with Francesco Bagnaia going nearly three tenths quicker with his 1m30.568s.

Yamaha man Quartararo himself would improve as the chequered flag fell, but he came up a tenth short of deposing Bagnaia, only for Quartararo’s compatriot Zarco to then pull it off with a 1m30.537s on his Pramac-run Ducati moments later.

Honda’s Marc Marquez completed the top four behind the trio, having chosen to follow Quartararo on both of his late-session soft rear tyre runs, while Jack Miller (Ducati) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) completed the top six.

Last-gasp improvements from Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Alex Rins (Suzuki) booked them spots in Q2 at the expense of Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) and Maverick Vinales (Aprilia).

Pol Espargaro had a big crash at La Musee around the halfway point in the session, but recovered to put a third Honda directly into Q2.

Martin actually finished FP3 in 10th, but was 11th in the combined classification as Bastianini never improved on his Friday benchmark – which proved good enough to book him a Q2 spot by 0.003s.

Alongside him and Vinales, Q1 will also feature Suzuki’s 2020 champion Joan Mir, all four KTMs – led by Brad Binder – and factory Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli among others.

Practice 3 Results