What went down in third Mugello MotoGP practice

Ducati MotoGP rider Francesco Bagnaia set the pace in the third Italian Grand Prix practice at Mugello.

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Key moments:

> Six Ducatis in top seven

> Quartararo sneaks into top 10

> Miller, Marquez and Suzuki duo heading to Q1

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The first half of the session was largely dominated by various Ducati-related dramas, with a mechanical problem and three separate crashes complicating life for the Bologna marque’s roster.

A fast off at Correntaio for @PeccoBagnaia! 😱

The Italian is the 4th Ducati rider to have a problem in FP3 but thankfully the Italian is able to walk away! 👍#MotoGP | #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/2F7fHIv3Wo

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 28, 2022

Shortly after Jack Miller had to ride off at Arrabbiata 1 with his Desmosedici apparently failing on him, works team-mate Bagnaia went down at speed at Correntaio, his bike ending up lodged in the tyre wall after cartwheeling through the gravel.

Drama for two rookies into San Donato! 😱@Marco12_B and @FabioDiggia49 having some issues early in FP3! 👀#MotoGP | #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/M7n9WMYO7M

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 28, 2022

Either side of that there were crashes for Marco Bezzecchi, who ran into the gravel and tipped off at virtually no speed, and Jorge Martin, who went down on the outside of Scarperia.

More disaster for Ducati! 💢@88jorgemartin slides off at Scarperia! 💥#MotoGP | #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/t2X7cicPFM

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 28, 2022

Soon after returning from his crash, Bagnaia used a fresh soft rear to set the best time of the weekend by far, a 1m45.393s, leaving him nearly three quarters of a second clear in the FP3 timesheets.

The gap was ultimately whittled down to a 0.276s gap by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, who was the sole non-Ducati rider in the top seven.

The rest of that top seven was made up by Luca Marini (VR46), Johann Zarco (Pramac), Bezzecchi (VR46), Enea Bastianini (Gresini) and Martin (Pramac).

Two Hondas also booked spots in Q2, with Pol Espargaro making use of a tow from brother Aleix and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami also getting in.

The final automatic Q2 spot was occupied by Yamaha’s championship leader Fabio Quartararo, who outpaced Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) by just 0.028s.

After a difficult Friday, both Suzuki riders Alex Rins and Joan Mir had to settle for Q1, as did Marc Marquez, who ended up only 21st.

The biggest surprise name in Q1, however, was Miller, who had been third-fastest after Friday but only found around a tenth and a half in FP3.

Going, going, gone! 💥@Bestia23 almost saves this slide! 🤯#MotoGP | #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/u328JQYYQu

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 28, 2022

There were two late crashes in the session, with Bastianini dropping his pace-liveried Ducati and RNF Yamaha rookie Darryn Binder then falling off soon after.

Practice 3 Results