Emilia Romagna MotoGP, Misano – Free Practice (3) Results

Johann Zarco sets the pace as wet weather continues during FP3 for the Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano, but world championship rivals Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo both miss out on the top ten and will head for Qualifying 1.

Despite the continued rain, Saturday morning saw the best times of the weekend so far, meaning the top ten places for direct access to Qualifying 2 were all decided in this session.

Marc Marquez was first to improve, climbing to second behind Jack Miller’s Friday time within the opening 15-minutes.

But it was the Ducati riders who continued to dominate in the wet with Miller, Jorge Martin and Zarco swapping places at the sharp end of the timesheets. However there were shocked faces in the factory Ducati pits as title contender Francesco Bagnaia found himself pushed out of the top ten.

Fabio Quartararo has his first chance to win the 2021 MotoGP title this weekend, providing he can keep his 52-point lead over Bagnaia to at least 50-points on Sunday.

After sinking to 16th as the Yamahas continued to struggle in wet – and especially drying conditions – on Friday afternoon, Quartararo made an encourahing start to FP3, breaking back into the top ten.

But the Frenchman was then pushed back to 13th as the final ten minutes began, with the other three Yamahas at the very bottom of the timesheets.

Facing his first Qualifying 1 visit of the season, Quartararo dug deep to snatch tenth place with five minutes remaining but was almost immediately bumped back out of Qualifying 2 and repeatedly made mistakes as he tried to retaliate.

Nonetheless, Bagnaia’s lack of speed was the biggest surprise and will be a massive relief for Quartararo and Yamaha. As well as Bagnaia and Quartararo, reigning champion Joan Mir was another big name that failed to make the top ten cut.

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Quartararo’s team-mate Franco Morbidelli did find time, leaping to seventh as best of the M1s with Petronas riders Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi 22nd and 23rd.

Rossi is competing in his final Italian round before retirement, unveiling a special helmet design on Saturday morning.

For the fans

Valentino Rossi’s final home GP helmet #MotoGP #EmiliaRomagnaGP dXZ2mUIp8J

— .NET/MotoGP (@_motogp) October 23, 2021

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Wild-cards Lorenzo Savadori and Michele Pirro both fell in the early stages of the session, followed by a nasty highside for Alex Rins at turn 13.

The rear of Miguel Oliveira’s KTM span out through the final corner shortly after he had gone fastest, the Portuguese being grabbed by a marshal as he tried to run across the track to get back to the pits.

Bagnaia won last month’s first Misano round, ahead of Quartararo and Enea Bastianini. The tyre allocation will be the same for this weekend, but temperatures are cooler.

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After wet weather throughout FP1, FP2 and FP3 better weather is forecast for this afternoon and especially Sunday.

* Rookie
Key:
^X Rider is X positions higher than FP2.
= Rider is same position as FP2.
˅X Rider is X positions lower than FP2.

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Official Misano MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Maverick Vinales SPA Yamaha 1m 31.007s (2020)
Fastest race lap:
Enea Bastianini ITA Ducati 1m 32.242s(2021)

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