Light showers kept riders on their toes as they tried to book a place in Q2
The Ducati Lenovo Team’s Jack Miller has set the fastest lap of the weekend so far at the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini in an FP3 session which was energised by spots of rain. Riders ran on slick Michelin tyres throughout, Miller using his to set a lap time as quick as a 1:31.296, but it is a warning sign that qualifying this afternoon at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli could be very tricky indeed. It is an all-Ducati top three on the combined timesheet with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) second on a 1:31.367 and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) third on a the 1:31.517 which he set on Friday.
Bologna bullets continue to fire
As was the case on the opening day of the San Marino GP weekend, if you weren’t on a Ducati, you weren’t going fastest. Miller accumulated a total of 30 laps on used tyres as he gathered long run data before taking new soft Michelin slicks on the front and rear of his Desmosedici to lay down the 1:31.296 inside the final nine minutes of the session. Bagnaia lost a 1:31.515 moments later due to a breach of track limits, but still managed to move up to second place when he clocked a 1:31.371 and then a 1:31.367 in the final three minutes with a hard front and a soft rear on the #63 entry. He will need to keep up the pace in qualifying given the three-position grid penalty against his name.
Bastianini only went as quick as a 1:32.395 in FP3 but had his FP2 benchmark of 1:31.517 to fall back on in terms of getting into Q2. World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was among those who was on a time attack when the rain briefly fell in Sector 4 with between 10 and 15 minutes remaining, but was also pushing the limits again in the dry. He eventually earned fourth on combined times with a 1:31.644 on his Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ entry, one position up on Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who set a 1:31.707. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) was sixth for the three sessions overall with his FP2 time of 1:31.837.
High drama thanks to yellow flags
Aprilia Racing duo Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaro got through to Q2 in seventh and eighth all-told on a 1:31.844 and a 1:31.929 respectively, while there was high drama in terms of deciding the…