Lombok Tengah, The Indonesia Post – Marc Marquez controlled the semi-wet track conditions at the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit during FP3, while Fabio Quartararo appeared the fastest in general in the three practice sessions of the Grand Prix of Indonesia, Saturday.
In the third practice session, the riders were unable to improve their lap times due to the semi-wet track conditions following heavy rains that flushed the circuit on the southern coast of Lombok on Saturday morning.
Therefore, the top ten drivers, who took advantage of the most optimal conditions during FP2, in the combined practice time record are entitled to qualify directly for Qualification 2 (Q2).
They are Fabio Quartararo (1:31,608), Franco Morbidelli, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaro, Brad Binder, Miguel Oliveira and Alex Rins.
At the beginning of the third practice session, the riders were only able to score laps in the 1:40 range with wet tires.
With track conditions starting to dry up, Jack Miller became the first rider to use slick tires and penetrated 1:37.
In the last 20 minutes, the riders began to change dry tires to catch the best lap.
Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Joan Mir and Pol Espargaro are still four seconds away from their best record in FP2. If they can’t be faster, the big names will have to fight for the top two slots in Q1 in order to participate in the fight for the pole position in Q2.
Five minutes remaining, Marquez slowly improved his lap and touched 1:34 and held on to the top position.
However, unfortunately, with the track conditions not being completely dry, Marquez was not able to appear faster or get into the top ten combinations of practice time records.
Marquez’s FP3 record of 1:34,067 is about 1.3 seconds from the best lap he made in FP2.
Bagnaia finished P2 0.183 seconds adrift and Marco Bezzecchi rounded out the top three.
Gresini Racing’s Enea Bastianini is currently in control of the riders’ standings thanks to his maiden MotoGP victory when he took the top podium in Qatar.
Bastianini on a Ducati GP21 motorbike proved to be one of the serious threats to rivals after a promising start to the season.
Brad Binder took the podium in Qatar for the first time also for KTM in Lusail after finishing P2 ahead of a highly motivated Pol Espargaro following the Honda RC213V’s satisfactory performance since the start of the season.
The MotoGP qualifying session starts at 15:05 WITA.
Top ten drivers who qualified for Q2:
1. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) – 1:31,608
2. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.030
3. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 0.285
4. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) + 0.296
5. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoG) + 0.313
6. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.357
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.400
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.409
9. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.441
10. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.498 (mhn/ojn/bbs)
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