Bagnaia shoots in new Mugello lap record en-route to fastest FP3 time

Francesco Bagnaia set a blistering new MotoGP lap record at Mugello to record the fastest time in FP3, while Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez will have to contest Q1.

The riders were able to improve their times as soon as the session got underway on Saturday morning thanks to the consistent conditions leading on from Friday, Johann Zarco and Miguel Oliviera launching themselves into second and fourth in the combined times respectively.

It took until the final third of the session though until Bagnaia’s FP2 leading effort was eclipsed, Fabio Quartararo doing the honours with a 1:45.807s as he took over the leadership of the combined timesheet.

The factory Yamaha ace continued to etch away time throughout the remainder of the test until he reached a 1:46.613s, the series leader pulling back into the pits with just over four minutes to go as he called it a day.

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Bagnaia though had a little more in the tank as he fired in a 1:45.456s in the dying moments of the session to record an all-new lap record for MotoGP at Mugello, the Italian in fine form at his first home event as a factory Ducati rider as he posted a tour just 0.063s faster than Marc Marquez’s 2019 record.

Quartararo’s time was enough to keep him second as FP3 reached its climax while Brad Binder utilised the new chassis brought by KTM for this weekend to grab an excellent third quickest lap, the South African having also matched Zarco’s all-time best top speed for a MotoGP machine with a 316.4 KPH run down the Mugello start/finish stretch.

Jack Miller ended up fourth quickest ahead of Zarco to make it three Desmosedici’s in the top five, with Alex Rins sixth on the first of the Suzuki’s.

Oliviera backed up KTM team-mate Binder in seventh overall just ahead of reigning MotoGP champion Joan Mir, while Pol Espargaro saved Honda’s blushes right at the end of running to bag himself a direct-to-Q2 berth in ninth overall, Franco Morbidelli getting the final spot in the pole shootout as he completed the top ten.

Just missing out was the second factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales, the Qatar Grand Prix victor crashing out while on his final flying lap-an error that ultimately shuffled back to 11^th just ahead of Marc by the end.

Aleix Espargaro will also have to head out in Q1 on his Aprilia, while Takaaki Nakagami lost his best chance of claiming an automatic pole shootout passage to track limits, the LCR man ending up 15^th just behind Pramac’s Michele Pirro.

Rossi’s struggles continued at home in Italy, the Petronas SRT pilot only managing the 18^th best effort as he continues to lack confidence with his M1.