MotoGP Indonesian GP: Marc Marquez tops FP3 but will still face volatile Q1

Heavy rain ahead of Saturday’s track action beginning left the Mandalika circuit damp for the start of the third MotoGP session of the weekend.

As a result, there would be no overall lap time improvements on the combined order and a volatile group will face Q1 in qualifying later today.

That group features six-time world champion Marquez and his Honda team-mate Pol Espargaro, after a crash and a technical issue hit both riders in FP2, while Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and 2020 world champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki will join them.

The early laps in FP3 were completed on wet tyres, with KTM’s Miguel Oliveira setting the early pace with a 1m44.014s and would trade top spot with Marquez and Jack Miller for a good chunk of the session.

Around 15 minutes in, Ducati’s Miller took to the circuit on slick rubber as a suitable dry line had appeared and shot to the top of the order with a 1m40.284s.

He would continue to improve this over the next few tours to a 1m37.481s, prompting the rest of the field into a switch to slicks.

It was at this point Marquez took control of the session, the Honda rider taking over top spot again with a 1m36.211s with 15 minutes remaining.

Marquez would chip away at this time and get it down to a 1m34.344s with just a few minutes left on the clock.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Xaveria Yunita

The Honda rider would end the morning with a 1m34.067s, but remains 22^nd on the combined times, while future Q1 opponent Francesco Bagnaia was 0.183 seconds behind in second on his Ducati.

VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi leaped up to third late on ahead of team-mate Luca Marini, though both also face Q1 later today.

The first of the Q2 runners was Alex Rins – who has a technical issue in FP3 - in fifth, the Suzuki rider battling illness in Indonesia but still managing to sneak into the top 10 in Friday’s dry FP2.

Miller was shuffled back to seventh come the chequered flag behind Pol Espargaro, with KTM’s Oliveira – who will feature in Q2 – eighth ahead of Mir and RNF Racing’s Andrea Dovizioso.

There were more technical troubles for Yamaha and reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo, whose M1 cut out late on in FP3 just as it did on Friday in FP2.

This left Quartararo outside of the 105% lap time cut-off margin as he was unable to set a flying lap on slicks.

However, he remains fastest on the combined times courtesy of his FP2-topping effort and will go straight into Q2 along with Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli, who was 11^th in FP3.

The remaining riders heading straight to Q2 are Pramac’s Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin, Qatar race winner Enea Bastianini (Gresini), Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and KTM’s Brad Binder.

Qualifying for the 2022 Indonesian GP gets underway at 3:05pm local time (7:05am GMT).

2022 MotoGP Indonesian GP - FP3 results:

Cla	Rider		Bike	Time	Gap
1	Marc Marquez		Honda	1'34.067
2	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	1'34.250	0.183
3	Marco Bezzecchi		Ducati	1'34.350	0.283
4	Luca Marini		Ducati	1'34.409	0.342
5	Alex Rins		Suzuki	1'34.633	0.566
6	Pol Espargaro		Honda	1'34.643	0.576
7	Jack Miller		Ducati	1'34.713	0.646
8	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	1'34.750	0.683
9	Joan Mir		Suzuki	1'34.840	0.773
10	Andrea Dovizioso		Yamaha	1'34.852	0.785
11	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	1'34.942	0.875
12	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	1'34.947	0.880
13	Remy Gardner		KTM	1'35.060	0.993
14	Alex Marquez		Honda	1'35.127	1.060
15	Maverick Viñales		Aprilia	1'35.210	1.143
16	Johann Zarco		Ducati	1'35.268	1.201
17	Jorge Martin		Ducati	1'35.317	1.250
18	Fabio Di Giannantonio		Ducati	1'35.856	1.789
19	Raúl Fernández		KTM	1'35.944	1.877
20	Brad Binder		KTM	1'36.339	2.272
21	Darryn Binder		Yamaha	1'37.304	3.237
22	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha
23	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia
24	Enea Bastianini		Ducati
View full results