Johann Zarco rounded off Ducati’s European Grand Prix practice domination with a commanding fastest time in FP3, leading Maverick Vinales by three-quarters of a second.
In a wet FP3 session that meant Friday’s FP2 times would ultimately decide who would automatically go through to the pole shootout, Ducati’s wet-weather prowess was once again proven, though this time the year-old GP19 machine took over the mantle in deference to Jack Miller’s strong Friday speed.
The Frenchman claimed ownership of the 45 minute test as the clock ticked past the half-way mark, demoting Tech 3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira by just over two-tenths as the track slowly dried.
Several riders posted session-best sectors by a fairly large margin over Zarco’s own benchmark, but the Avintia rider’s mighty final sector performance denied anyone the opportunity to dump him from the top spot.
Zarco then improved his time by 0.378 to put himself well clear of the rest, though he wasnt quite finished yet.
Now visibly in a groove with his Desmosedici, Zarco fired in a 1:40.007 on his final flyer to head fellow late improver Vinales by a monster 0.736.
Vinales-who will have to contest Q1 after missing the cut with his best FP2 effort- led LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami by nearly three-tenths, while Pramac’s Francesco Bagnaia and Crutchlow completed the top five.
Miguel Oliveira was shuffled back to sixth overall by the time the chequered flag was shown, with Alex Marquez showing improved performance relative to Friday in seventh on his factory Honda RC213-V.
Valentino Rossi made a welcome return back to MotoGP action with a solid eighth quickest time-despite not having ridden his M1 since the French GP nearly a month ago-while Suzuki duo Alex Rins and Joan Mir completed the top ten.
Stefan Bradl looked strong early on as he perched his Honda at the top of the pile, though the German was later relegated to 11th just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso.
Lorenzo Savadori showed impressive speed in his debut weekend in the premier class with Aprilia, bagging the 13th quickest time, though the same couldn’t be said for Petronas SRT’s title contenders.
Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo could only manage the 17th and 19th best efforts respectively, though fellow Q2 runners Aleix Espargaro and KTM’s Brad Binder joined them at the foot of the timesheets.
