Danilo Petrucci led the third MotoGP practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, as several front-runners missed out on an automatic Q2 spot.
The track became supremely busy in the closing minutes of the session as the riders looked to secure their place in Q2, with brand new Soft tyres becoming the order for most.
Petrucci, like everyone else, improved his time in the closing stages, posting a 1:46.056 tour that was four-tenths quicker than then leader Takaaki Nakagami.
The Italian's effort means he will be the only factory Ducati to skip Q1, as team-mate Andrea Dovizioso could only manage 11th and will therefore have to contest the first qualifying session.
KTM's Pol Espargaro will progress straight to Q2 for the second consecutive weekend after stringing together a great lap in the closing stages of the session that saw him shoot up to second behind Petrucci.
Marc Marquez briefly moved to second following his final flyer, before Espargaro relegated him back to third shortly after.
Behind the Spanish duo came earlier leader Nakagami, while Jack Miller managed fifth-fastest on his Lamborghini-liveried Pramac Ducati GP-19.
Fabio Quartararo was fastest Yamaha in sixth just ahead of factory M1 pilot Maverick Vinales, while Cal Crutchlow hung on for an automatic Q2 spot in eighth for LCR Honda despite a late crash that meant he wasn’t able to complete a final flying lap.
The final two riders to make it straight to Q2 later on were Franco Morbidelli on the second Petronas SRT Yamaha and overnight combined leader Francesco Bagnaia on the second Pramac machine.
Alongside Dovizioso several other big names will be forced to compete in Q1 in order to try and move through to Q2 and have a shot at pole, as both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi failed to set a lap quick enough for the top 10.
Lorenzo at least looked more competitive than yesterday with and at one point had moved up into sixth, but eventually faded to 12th.
This put the factory Honda marginally clear of the second factory Yamaha M1 of Rossi in 13th position.
Alex Rins also failed to escape Q1 for Suzuki, a crash at Turn 11 on just his first flying lap that saw the GSX-RR hit the wall not helping his efforts.
