Bagnaia fastest in Austrian MotoGP FP3 as Martin destined to compete in Q1

Francesco Bagnaia fired to the fastest time in FP3 for the Austrian Grand Prix, while Styrian GP victor Jorge Martin will have to contest Q1 after crashing towards the end.

Friday form-man Johann Zarco started out as the quickest rider in the early stages of the session with a 1:23.484s tour, the Frenchman marginally ahead of series leader Fabio Quartararo though nearly six-tenths down on his rapid effort from FP1.

Things settled down through the mid-point of the test as the riders elected to instead focus on long-runs ahead of Sunday’s race-making up for time lost in the wet FP2 on Friday afternoon-though the usual time attack at the end of FP3 was not too far away.

Bagnaia shot to the head of the timesheets with s 1:22.874s to lap only half-a-tenth down on Zarco’s lap record having been just over a tenth up half-way round the lap, losing a smidge of time in the final two sectors of the tour.

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This would ultimately leave him to top the session ahead of Quartararo by just 0.094s, while Zarco would end up third in the session but still quickest overall as the only man not to improve in FP3.

Marc Marquez found a late improvement to shoot up to fourth overall ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, with Jack Miller also getting himself a guaranteed Q2 spot with his own late effort.

Reigning MotoGP world champion inserted his Suzuki strongly into the top ten in seventh ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and KTM’s Brad Binder, while Pol Espargaro managed to find just enough of an improvement to steal the final direct-to-Q2 passage from the other Suzuki of Alex Rins by a soul-crushing 0.001s.

A big name to miss out was Styrian GP winner and pole-man Martin, the Pramac rookie looking set for enough of an improvement to force his way into the top ten on his final attempt before losing the front of his Ducati at the final bend, therefore leaving him only 14th and facing a Q1 charge to salvage a Q2 position.

Miguel Oliveira continued to struggle as he ended up 13th just ahead of the Spaniard, while Alex Marquez failed to match his strong FP3 run last weekend as he could manage only 16th on the other LCR machine.

Both Petronas SRT Yamaha’s missed out with Valentino Rossi 15th and the ever-improving Cal Crutchlow 20th, while Luca Marini got the best of Avintia team-mate Enea Bastianini, the latter’s session not being helped by an early crash at Turn 1.

The duo finished up FP3 in 12th and 18th respectively.  

Spielberg, Saturday, August 14, 2021