The Aprilia star is being chased by a Ducati trio in FP3 with Quartararo and Bagnaia safely in Q2
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) heads into qualifying for the Monster Energy British Grand Prix at the top of the standings after setting a successful 1:58.254 in FP3, but he is tight at the top. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) round out the top three and are just 0.028 and 0.078 seconds behind the Spaniard respectively.
A typically exciting end to FP3
Raul Fernandez (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) were the only two riders to improve on their Friday efforts in the first 25 minutes of FP3, but heading into the final 20 minutes they were installing soft rear tires, and the weather attacks were incoming.
The Aprilia Racing duo formed by Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales were the first big pushers. The Spaniards exchanged the fastest laps with 15 minutes to go, Viñales 0.096s ahead of Espargaró. But on his second attacking lap, Espargaro clocked a 1:58.254 to move within 0.345s of Viñales and everyone else. Miller, following Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), cut Espargaro’s lead to 0.078 seconds to move into P2, while Quartararo took P4 after improving his best time.
After missing out on one of the top 10 on Friday, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was 7th with 10 minutes left on the clock, before Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) moved up to 3rd to move up a tenth of Espargaro. Pecco, after exchanging a few hand gestures with Aleix Espargaro after the Ducati man was forced to sit down on a fast lap, came back and made sure he was safe in P6. Zarco then crashed unscathed at Turn 13 while setting a potentially record lap, bringing out the yellow flags, but the Frenchman was safe in the top 10.
Martin’s final lap moved him into second to make it four drivers within a second heading into qualifying, Zarco is the third driver a tenth behind Espargaro in P4, with fifth-placed Viñales 0.321 seconds off the time of his teammate. Quartararo has to settle for sixth, three tenths behind his nearest title rival, with Pecco sitting in 7th just 0.006s behind Quartararo. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) are the other automatic qualifiers from Q2 in P8, P9 and P10.
Be sure to tune in for the qualifier at 14:10 local time (GMT+1)!
Top 10 combined: 1. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) – 1:58.2542. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) +0.0283. Jack Miller (Team Ducati Lenovo) +0.0784. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) +0.0905. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) + 0.3216. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.3287. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.3718. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.4039. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.40910. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.475
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