It was a session that started badly but ended very well for the Italian
The Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has set the fastest lap time in MotoGP™ FP3 at the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley, bouncing back from an early crash in emphatic fashion. The Italian blasted to a 1:45.393 with 10 minutes to go at a sunny Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, and enjoyed a margin of 0.276 seconds over the field once the session was done. Friday fast man Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) was next-best, booking his place in Q2, but eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) will be going into Q1.
The Italian manufacturers dominate FP3 – eventually
‘Pecco’ was certainly not the only Ducati rider who had a rough start to Saturday morning, with team-mate Jack Miller forced to hitch a ride back to the paddock after an early technical failure, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) running off into the gravel at San Donato (Turn 1), and later Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) taking a tumble at Scarperia (Turn 10). By the time the music stopped, however, the top seven featured six of the nine Desmosedicis in the field, with one bike from fellow Italian manufacturer Aprilia among them.
Bagnaia had tucked the front and crashed at Correntaio (Turn 12) just over 10 minutes in, but that was only a temporary hindrance before he set the quickest time of the weekend so far. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) got as high as second on the timing screen with a 1:45.762, and was third all-told after Aleix Espargaro rode his RS-GP to a 1:45.669 in the final minutes. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) claimed fourth with a 1:45.767, ahead of Bezzecchi on a 1:45.853. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) took sixth on a 1:45.860, before a crash at Bucine (Turn 15) with the…