Morbidelli masters simmering Qatar MotoGP track conditions to top FP3 ahead of Espargaro

Franco Morbidelli fought off the heat of Doha to lead Aleix Espargaro in third practice for the Qatar Grand Prix, the Italian’s 1:54.676 over a second from Friday’s FP2 benchmark.

Morbidelli led the early running with a 1:55.124s tour, the Petronas SRT man continuing to display Yamaha’s prowess around the Losail International Circuit following the Japanese manufacturers near-monopoly of the timesheets at the conclusion of Friday running.

Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo followed only a few tenths further back, though most of the 45 minute session saw the riders simply heading out to get better acquainted with their machines ahead of Saturday afternoon qualifying.

Track temperatures of nearly 50 degrees celsius meant that improvements in lap times from Friday’s FP2 session were impossible for the 22 MotoGP stars, meaning the ten men that ended the pre-ceeding test at the head of the timesheets will progress directly to the pole shootout this afternoon.

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The big name to miss out is reigning MotoGP world champion Joan Mir, the Suzuki racer missing out on an automatic Q2 berth by just 0.013, the Spaniard joined in the opening qualifying session by all four Honda and KTM machines to boot.

Quartararo fired his name to the top of the times with a 1:55.070s effort just past the mid-point of the session, though the Frenchman found himself relegated to second by an improving Morbidelli-his 1:54.676 ultimately enough to leave him quickest as FP3 came to a close.

Espargaro managed to sneak into second with a late flyer on his Aprilia, ending up just 0.165 down on Morbidelli in the final reckoning.

He did however suffer a blot on his copybook after tucking the front of his RS-GP at Turn 6 as the flag fell on the session, though he fortunately walked away unharmed.

Luca Marini put in a solid performance to end the session third quickest on his Avintia-run Ducati ahead of Alex Rins’ Suzuki, while Quartararo was eventually shuffled back to fifth by the end of the play.

Mir managed the sixth best time overall ahead of Takaaki Nakagami’s LCR Honda, while Vinales headed home Honda’s Stefan Bradl and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira to complete the top ten.

Ducati enjoyed a more low-key outing in FP3 as they look to fight for pole later this evening, Jack Miller ending the session only 15^th fastest after an early crash at Turn 15, the Aussie sliding through the gravel before rejoining the fray on his spare Desmosedici later on.

His GP20-riding team-mates also failed to bother the frontrunners during Saturday afternoon running, Francesco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco down in 21^st and 22^nd respectively behind the second Aprilia of Lorenzo Savadori.