The Pramac Ducati rider carries his good pace into Saturday morning in Thailand
Jorge Martin has picked himself up from an early crash to set the pace after FP3 for the MotoGP™ field at the OR Thailand Grand Prix. The Prima Pramac Racing rider set a 1:30.205 in his time attack and ended the session 0.012 seconds up on fellow Desmosedici rider Jack Miller, of the Ducati Lenovo Team. Third and fourth was also Pramac and factory Ducati, namely Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia, courtesy of their FP2 efforts at the Chang International Circuit, and World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) is fifth. However, some big names are going into Q1 this afternoon, including Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and title contender Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing).
Martin and Miller on top despite going down
The rain stayed away on Saturday morning and riders took the opportunity to undertake race simulations before bolting on new Michelin tyres for the final minutes of the session. Martin had ended Friday in third position but a crash at Turn 12, less than 10 minutes into FP3, was not an ideal way to kick off his FP3 programme. However, the Spaniard was still fourth on combined times when he set that 1:30.205 inside the final three minutes to claim top spot.
Less comfortable had been Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), who was looking to protect his title hopes but was outside the Q2 places at the end of FP2. His time attack in FP3 did not start well, with an error at Turn 12, but he recovered well enough to set a 1:30.513 and move up to seventh on combined times. In doing so, Bastianini put Ducati stablemate Miller in the danger zone, but the Japanese GP winner then jumped to second with a 1:30.217. ‘Thriller’ crashed on his next lap, up at Turn 3, although it would matter little.
M. Marquez misses out – and A. Espargaro too
On the other hand, Marquez’s messy run through Turn 12 as Miller was setting that P2 time would prove costly when he failed to improve on the 1:30.523 which he set in FP1. He was out of the top 10 when Brad Binder set a 1:30.405 after the chequered flag and unable to get back in – yellow flags for Miller’s crash certainly did not help his cause. As for Binder, his lap was good enough for sixth, one position behind Quartararo on a 1:30.310….