Marc Marquez led the way in a damp FP3 session at the Mandalika International Circuit that ensured that the top ten from Friday would progress to the pole shootout.
The latter stages of FP2 on Friday afternoon saw a frenzied battle to bag a top ten berth with further rain expected on Saturday morning, a forecast which ultimately came to pass and thus meant any improvements in the combined standings were impossible.
Despite this times tumbled throughout FP3 as the conditions improved significantly throughout, the riders initially heading out on slicks before Jack Miller as usual braved slicks first of all several minutes in – the Ducati man being rewarded with a time nearly two seconds clear of the wet runners, led by Johann Zarco.
The Aussie continued to find time across his four lap run, eventually ending up on a 1:37.860s, roughly six seconds adrift of Fabio Quartararo’s FP2-leading effort.
The Indonesian venue’s tarmac continued to dry across the subsequent half-an-hour which saw further time evolution, Marquez ultimately coming out on top of a late battle with Francesco Bagnaia to lead the session on a 1:34.067s – though this was still short of getting the Honda man a direct-to-Q2 passage.
Bagnaia ended up just 0.183s further back in second ahead of the VR46 Ducati duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini, while Suzuki’s Alex Rins completed the top five.
Pol Espargaro was sixth quickest on his Honda ahead of Miller, while KTM’s Miguel Oliveira continued to look strong across all conditions in eighth.
Joan Mir was ninth on the other GSX-RR Suzuki, with the top ten being rounded out by RNF Racing Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Franco Morbidelli ended up the quickest of Yamaha’s factory team in 11th, Quartararo in the end not posting a representative time after running into late problems with his primary M1 as the Frenchman coasted into his pit-box with light smoke emanating from his machine, the reigning world champion safe in the knowledge that his Friday gambit was enough to get him into the pole shootout.
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