Jorge Martin led the way in FP3 with a blistering effort late on as Francesco Bagnaia missed an automatic Q2 graduation as a result of a late crash.
Martin remained quiet throughout the test as he looked at putting together a race run, the Spaniard electing to pin his hopes on the customary late-session qualifying simulation to try and secure a slot in the pole shootout, while Ducati stable-mate Francesco Bagnaia decided to head out early having entered the day outside the top ten in 11th.
The series leader immediately managed to string together a 1:59.167s to secure the fastest lap of the weekend to put himself in with the best possible chance, especially considering rain looked to be on the way prior to the end of the session with dark clouds beginning to manifest overhead.
The changing climactic conditions seemed to cause mayhem with the Sepang International Circuit track surface as several riders – including Remy Gardner, Raul Fernandez as well as Fabio Di Gianantonio all taking turns at crashing at different bends throughout the session.
Martin batted away the risk though as he fitted a fresh set of slicks for a final run as he banged in a stunning 1:58.583s effort at the death to move into the top spot by over half-a-second at that point, though VR46 Ducati rookie Marco Bezzecchi would reduce his leading advantage to 0.189s with a gambit of his own.
Maverick Vinales was a strong third for Aprilia having suffered a rather ordinary Friday, with Luca Marini securing fourth on the sister VR46 entry.
Joan Mir took fifth for Suzuki ahead of Enea Bastianini’s Gresini-run Ducati, while Fabio Quartararo managed to hang into seventh having looked vulnerable of being knocked from the top ten as spits of rain began to fall in the final few minutes.
Alex Rins was eighth on the other Suzuki GSX-RR ahead of Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia, while Franco Morbidelli managed to steal the final guaranteed spot in the top ten from Bagnaia with just moments to spare – the 2020 premier class vice champion posting a time the exact same as the Ducati pilot.
Bagnaia’s efforts of reaching Q2 directly were badly compromised by a late crash while following title rival Quartararo, the Italian lapping nearly two-tenths underneath the Yamaha racer before crashing at Turn 7 – leaving him helplessly falling down the leaderboard to 11th in the final reckoning as a consequence.
Joining him in Q1 would be the other Pramac machine of Johann Zarco as well as factory KTM rider Brad Binder, who struggled to put together a decent lap en-route to 13th having entered the day fourth overall, while Jack Miller also missed out on the sister factory Ducati in 14th.
Marc Marquez could score only 16th having been denied an earlier improvement by a cruising Morbidelli – the Yamaha rider having also blocked Bagnaia at the same time as well as team-mate Quartararo earlier in the session, thus leaving him open to a potential penalty ahead of the race.
Cal Crutchlow was limited to 19th overall on his RNF Yamaha having crashed while trying to improve, the Briton just clear of 21st-placed Pol Espargaro who crashed at Turn 15 as well as Turn 1 late on in what would turn out to be a messy session for the factory Honda man.
