MotoGP Valencia GP: Miller tops final practice, Bagnaia sneaks into Q2

The session was red-flagged just over a minute in when VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi crashed at Turn 7 on an out-lap and his bike burst into flames.

The scene was quickly cleared and the session resumed a few minutes later at 10am local time, with Miller leading the way at the chequered flag by 0.105 seconds from Pramac’s Johann Zarco.

Cooler conditions on Saturday morning meant lap time improvements on the combined order were few and far between, with Tech3 KTM’s Remy Gardner the only one to find time down in 21st after the opening 15 minutes of running.

It wasn't until Miller shot to the top of the order to depose Luca Marini’s Friday best with just under 15 minutes remaining that the session sprung into life.

That lap would keep Miller fastest of all until the final two minutes, when Zarco posted a 1m30.026s on his Pramac Ducati to go top.

However, Miller produced the best time of the weekend so far with a 1m29.921s on his final tour to head into this afternoon’s qualifying as the rider to beat.

KTM’s Brad Binder was one of seven riders on Saturday morning to suffer a fall in the tricky conditions, the South African sliding off his bike at the Turn 4 right-hander 15 minutes in.

But Binder rallied in the closing stages to sail through to Q2 with a 1m30.188s, with Marini remaining fourth on the combined order despite ending FP3 14th on the individual timesheet.

Fabio Quartararo was the leading championship contender in fifth on his factory Yamaha, while points leader Bagnaia was briefly pushed out of the top 10 in the closing stages as he vied for his place in Q2.

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bagnaia managed a 1m30.324s late on to move up to ninth, avoiding a repeat trip through Q1 having fallen into the first part of qualifying last time out in Malaysia.

Marc Marquez, despite suffering from an illness, completed the top six on the combined order at the end of FP3 to safely make it into Q2 on his Honda ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin in eighth and Suzuki’s Joan Mir in 10th have also secured a place in Q2.

Alex Rins was denied a place late on by just 0.050s, with Enea Bastainini following him into Q2 after the Gresini rider crashed early on.

Crashes for Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, Tech3’s Raul Fernandez, RNF’s Darryn Binder and a second fall for Bezzecchi stopped all of them from progressing directly into Q2.

MotoGP Valencia GP - FP3 results:

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Jack Miller	Ducati	19	1'29.921
2	Johann Zarco	Ducati	22	1'30.026	0.105
3	Brad Binder	KTM	18	1'30.188	0.267
4	Luca Marini	Ducati	22	1'30.554	0.633
5	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	24	1'30.231	0.310
6	Marc Marquez	Honda	23	1'30.279	0.358
7	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	20	1'30.300	0.379
8	Jorge Martin	Ducati	22	1'30.495	0.574
9	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	21	1'30.324	0.403
10	Joan Mir	Suzuki	22	1'30.383	0.462
11	Alex Rins	Suzuki	21	1'30.388	0.467
12	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	13	1'30.415	0.494
13	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	23	1'30.446	0.525
14	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	20	1'30.431	0.510
15	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia	17	1'30.581	0.660
16	Alex Marquez	Honda	22	1'30.868	0.947
17	Pol Espargaro	Honda	18	1'30.957	1.036
18	Marco Bezzecchi	Ducati	10	1'31.687	1.766
19	Remy Gardner	KTM	21	1'31.056	1.135
20	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	17	1'31.093	1.172
21	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Ducati	19	1'31.097	1.176
22	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	20	1'31.121	1.200
23	Raúl Fernández	KTM	4	1'32.468	2.547
24	Darryn Binder	Yamaha	18	1'31.753	1.832
View full results