Doha MotoGP: Quartararo tops windy third practice

The wind had picked up considerably for the start of FP3, with a lot of dust being blown onto the Losail circuit which guaranteed there would be no combined time improvements.

Tech3 KTM rider Iker Lecuona set the early pace in the session with a 1m58.073s, before Quartararo moved ahead on his Yamaha with a 1m56.912s.

The Frenchman wasn’t happy with the feeling on his M1 on Friday in the lower grip conditions experienced by much of the field because of the humidity.

He continued to better his pace to a 1m56.723s, though Mir would depose him 10 minutes later with a 1m56.450s on his Suzuki.

Mir blamed a strategy gaffe by his Suzuki team on Friday evening in FP2 for stopping him advancing directly into Q2, with the Spaniard forced to go through Q1 for the second week in a row later today.

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

Mir's effort would remain the benchmark until the final three minutes, when team-mate Alex Rins moved to the top of the order with a 1m56.347s.

Rins looked set to end FP3 leading a Suzuki 1-2, but Quartararo produced a 1m56.064s at the death to end the session top – though Ducati’s Jack Miller remains fastest of all on combined times courtesy of his 1m53.145s from FP2.

The Suzuki duo rounded out the top three, Rins safely into Q2 with his FP2 effort, while Mir will join the likes of all four KTM riders, Honda’s Pol Espargaro and Valentino Rossi in Q1 later this evening.

Danilo Petrucci was fourth on his Tech3 KTM, but is only 12th on combined times and heads into Q1, while fifth-placed Maverick Vinales on the Yamaha will contest Q2.

Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli, who was sixth in FP3, will join Vinales in Q2, with the remainder of the top 10 in the session – Avintia’s Enea Bastianini, LCR’s Alex Marquez, Rossi and Pol Espargaro – all facing Q1.

Francesco Bagnaia was the only factory Ducati rider to spin some laps in FP3, with the Italian 14th, while Miller, Pramac duo Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin and Avintia’s Luca Marini didn’t set times.

All but Marini of that quartet secured their Q2 places on Friday, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro (17th) and Honda’s Stefan Bradl (16th) the last of the direct entrants into the pole shootout session.

Qualifying for the Doha GP gets underway at 8pm local time (BST +2).

MotoGP Doha Grand Prix - FP3 results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	12	1'56.064
2	Alex Rins	Suzuki	14	1'56.347	0.283
3	Joan Mir	Suzuki	13	1'56.450	0.386
4	Danilo Petrucci	KTM	5	1'56.614	0.550
5	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	8	1'56.647	0.583
6	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	13	1'56.660	0.596
7	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	11	1'56.668	0.604
8	Alex Marquez	Honda	7	1'56.701	0.637
9	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	15	1'56.718	0.654
10	Pol Espargaro	Honda	10	1'56.789	0.725
11	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	15	1'56.855	0.791
12	Brad Binder	KTM	14	1'56.933	0.869
13	Iker Lecuona	KTM	13	1'56.981	0.917
14	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	6	1'57.335	1.271
15	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	15	1'57.378	1.314
16	Stefan Bradl	Honda	12	1'57.450	1.386
17	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	5	1'58.633	2.569
18	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	4	2'03.348	7.284
19	Johann Zarco	Ducati	0
20	Luca Marini	Ducati	1
21	Jack Miller	Ducati	0
22	Jorge Martin	Ducati	0
View full results