Morbidelli screams to fastest FP3 time as Rossi makes Q2

Franco Morbidelli fired in a late improvement to top FP3 for the Catalan Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya while all four Hondas will have to contest Q1.

Miguel Oliveira led the way early on for KTM with a 1:39.448s tour, the Portuguese pilot heading Morbidelli and factory Yamaha racer Maverick Vinales at the top of the tree following the early flurry of runs.

The bulk of the session ended being quiet as most of the riders waited until the closing minutes to head out on track for their final time attack attempts in order to try and secure a berth to the pole shootout in qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

Fabio Quartararo was the first to blink as he posted the fastest lap of the weekend-a 1:39.168s-to head to the top of the FP3 and combined timesheets, Takaaki Nakagami also striking early on to move himself into fifth overall.

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Before too long though everyone was out trying to grab a position in the top ten, although Morbidelli would ultimately be the one to lead the way as the session came to a close with the first sub 1:39 of the event, his 1:38.929s effort leaving him just 0.046s clear of Quartararo’s own improved last attempt.

Oliviera once again looked rapid on his KTM as he flew up third late on to end the test only 0.122s from Morbidelli’s benchmark, while Francesco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro fired in personal bests right as the chequered flag wave to lift themselves from outside the top ten to guaranteed Q2 spots as they completed the top five.

Brad Binder backed up team-mate Oliveira on the sister factory KTM RC16 in sixth ahead of Johann Zarco, the Frenchman’s best FP2 tour enough to get him into Q2 as he was the only rider not to improve from Friday on his way to 15^th in the FP3 times.

Vinales ended up eighth in the end ahead of Joan Mir’s Suzuki, while Valentino Rossi utilised a handy tow from Aleix on his final effort to sneak into the top ten-just 0.069s clear of Jack Miller’s Ducati, the double 2021 race winner therefore having to head out in Q1 later on.

Nakagami also lost out as he failed to find further improvement in the closing stages, the LCR Honda man shuffled to 12^th as the first of the RC213-V men ahead of factory Honda ace Pol Espargaro.

Marc Marquez was only 15^th as his return struggles continue, while Jorge Martin showed encouraging speed on his own racing return in 16^th but just 0.390s down on securing a direct pole shootout passage.

Enea Bastianini slipped to 19^th overall having ended Friday in the top ten, the Italian rookie suffering an early crash at Turn 5 before finding himself unable to find sufficient improvement in time as the session came to a close.  

Lorenzo Savadori was the only other rider to suffer a get-off throughout FP3, the Aprilia man losing the front of his RS-GP at Turn 4 as he geared up for a final attack-limiting him to a time nearly a second clear of 20^th placed Luca Marini ahead as he propped up the leaderboard.