Fabio Quartararo led FP3 for the Dutch TT at Assen, posting a late flyer to break the MotoGP lap record with a 1:32.471 as both Suzuki GSX-RR's missed the Q2 cut.
Quartararo looked rapid throughout the session and at one point looked on to beat Maverick Vinales’ quickest time from yesterday, but was stopped by a flapping water bottle that dislodged itself from underneath the Yamaha’s fairing.
He rejoined the session after the bottle was secured, and banged in his scorching time in the closing seconds to lead Danilo Petrucci, who had shaved just over half-a-tenth from Vinales time just minutes earlier.
Vinales therefore had to settle for third fastest, without improving on his FP2 topping time, just ahead of Honda’s Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha.
Takaaki Nakagami impressed yet again with the sixth fastest time on his year-old Honda RC213-V run by LCR, while the second Petronas SRT machine of Franco Morbidelli managed seventh.
The final three riders to head straight to Q2 later on were Pramac’s Jack Miller, the second factory Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow’s LCR Honda. Incredibly, the top ten riders that progressed direct to Q2 were covered by just 0.485.
Among the big names to miss the Q2 cut in the frenetic closing minutes as everybody went about setting a quick time in order to advance were both Suzuki’s. Joan Mir and Alex Rins ended the session 11th and 12th respectively, just missing the automatic Q2 berth.
Andrea Iannone was also unable to hang on to a top ten place, the Aprilia pilot slipping to 13th as the session came to an end. The Italian set a quicker time than he managed yesterday on his final flyer, but was quickly bumped down as other improved despite being just 0.734 away from Quartararo's benchmark.
