Aleix Espargaro moved to the head of the timesheets in FP3 for the Dutch TT at Assen by a narrow 0.002s over series leader Fabio Quartararo despite a late crash.
The Aprilia racer looked strong throughout the dry third practice outing as he focussed primarily on running race simulations with the medium compound rear tyre, the Spaniard working closely on track with team-mate Maverick Vinales who elected to run the soft compound rear rubber.
This allowed Vinales to post the fastest lap of the weekend up to that point, a 1:32.911s effort that saw him lead the way until the final stages.
Improvements were few and far between as the bulk of the field tried to catch up on dry race practice after the inclement conditions that affected both sessions on Friday, though the customary late FP3 time attack began in earnest as the outing entered its closing stanza.
Aprilia’s managed to retain control of the session, Espargaro first firing in a 1:32.518s before being shaded once again by Vinales who managed a 1:32.487s soon after, though it would be the Argentine Grand Prix victor that would strike the killer blow with a storming 1:32.164s tour that secured him FP3 honours.
This came despite a crash at Turn 3 for Espargaro after he lost the front mid-way through the slow-speed right-hander.
Quartararo ended up being the man that got closest to dethroning Espargaro with a time just 0.002s adrift in second, while Vinales improved at the death to go third – less than half-a-tenth-of-a-second down on his fellow RS-GP pilot.
Suzuki’s Alex Rins was a strong fourth despite his fractured left wrist still having not fully healed, while LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami impressed with a time just 0.191s away from Espargaro’s benchmark – putting him over a second clear of his fellow Honda riders.
Marco Bezzecchi was sixth for VR46 Ducati ahead of the factory Ducati entry of Francesco Bagnaia, the Italian just clear of team-mate Jack Miller.
Completing the top ten – and the automatic Q2 graduates – were the Pramac Ducati pairing, Jorge Martin edging Johann Zarco after the Frenchman crashed at the high-speed Turn 7 on his final attempt.
Joan Mir missed out on a direct pole shootout passage by just under two-tenths in the end, while Gresini rookie once again out-paced team-mate Enea Bastinaini, though a crash of his own towards the end wrecked his chances of grabbing a top ten spot.
Brad Binder was the fastest of the KTM’s in 13th ahead of Franco Morbidelli, the factory Yamaha man suffering a Turn 15 get-off in the early stages.
Bastianini’s tough middle-portion of the 2022 campaign continued with the 17th best time having experienced a second crash of the weekend, Turn 7 claiming the Italian.
Pol Espargaro elected to pull out from the rest of the weekend after struggling with the injured ribs he suffered in his nasty German GP FP1 crash, the factory Honda man keen to rest up prior to the British GP at Silverstone in just over a month’s time.
