Francesco Bagnaia has earnt a precious spot in Q2 at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana but it was a nervous conclusion to FP3 for the MotoGP™ World Championship leader. Fellow Ducati Lenovo Team rider Jack Miller was the fast man on a 1:29.921 but Bagnaia had been pushed back to ninth after the chequered flag came out at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Fortunately for him, that was as far as he would slip, although he was only 0.064 seconds quicker than P11. Pecco’s only remaining rival for the title, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), finished the session in P5 – after a late front-end scare.

Somewhat low track temperature seemed to catch out several riders in the opening half of the session although, ironically, it was heat being generated less than two minutes in when Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) crashed at Turn 7 and his Ducati caught fire – thankfully, the Italian was clear of the flames. That incident triggered a brief red flag period before a close call between Bagnaia and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) when both ran wide at Turn 2, then separate crashes for Raul Fernandez (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing), Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), Brad Binder, Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing).

Miller was among the first to go for a time attack when he went out with new soft Michelin slicks and rose from P3 on combined times to P1 for the weekend to date with a 1:30.095 just inside the final quarter of an hour. That was the benchmark until Ducati stablemate Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) set a 1:30.026 in the final couple of minutes before the chequered flag, but Miller quickly responded with the only 1:29 of the morning. Brad Binder moved up to third with a late 1:30.188 and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) is fourth on combined times thanks to the 1:30.217 with which he topped FP2.

Quartararo needed a few laps to improve his pace when he went out on new Michelins midway through FP3, but eventually did enough to claim P5 with a 1:30.231 on his final run, and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) jumped from outside of the top 10 to P6 with the chequered flag out courtesy of a 1:30.279. Bagnaia had been briefly outside the top 10 in those final minutes and Marquez’s lap pushed him back down to ninth, as the Italian struggled for pace. He could not improve on his 1:30.324 on his final lap but stayed ninth, although he did need some help to get back to the pits when he apparently ran out of fuel – and this time Zarco was on hand to provide a push.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) took P7 on a 1:30.300, a boost for his hopes of third in the World Championship considering Bastianini is classified 12th on the combined timesheet. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) is eighth, one up on Bagnaia, and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is the last rider through to Q2 as it stands, taking 10th at 0.462 seconds off the pace. Bezzecchi finished 18th-quickest after another crash this morning, at Turn 6.

FP4 is due up at 13:30, then it’s the final Q1 of the year from 14:10 (GMT +1)!

MotoGP™ Combined Top 10

1. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1:29.921
2. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.105
3. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.267
4. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.296
5. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.310
6. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.358
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.379
8. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.401
9. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.403
10. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.462