Marco Bezzecchi laid down an early Saturday marker as he set the pace in the final Australian MotoGP practice session at Phillip Island.
Bezzecchi remained largely unchallenged throughout the final practice, with his time of 1:27.273 enough to top the session for his Aprilia team.
Luca Marini had a dramatic opening to the session, with smoke pouring out of the Italian’s engine, which caused him to miss the majority of final practice.
Several riders, including Pedro Acosta, were caught out by the Honda’s technical problem, though the session was not red-flagged for track contamination.
Johann Zarco crashed at Turn 10 to bring out further yellow flags, annulling some of the fast lap times being set by the factory KTM riders.
Despite many personal best laptimes coming in the late stages, none of the riders were able to challenge Bezzecchi, who topped the session by 0.235s.
Fabio Di Giannantonio took the chequered flag in second, while Fabio Quartararo completed the top three.
Alex Marquez was fourth over the line, just over a tenth ahead of team-mate Fermin Aldeguer in sixth. Raul Fernandez was sandwiched between the pair in fifth for Trackhouse.
Jack Miller completed the final practice in seventh over Francesco Bagnaia in eighth. Acosta led the KTM charge despite early woes in ninth, while Brad Binder completed the top 10.
Joan Mir narrowly trailed the KTM pair in 11th, with Pol Espargaro continuing to look strong on his stand in duties by beating Franco Morbidelli to 12th.
Marini returned to the track in 14th, while Zarco was unable to rejoin the session and completed practice in 15th.
Miguel Oliveira once again found himself within a second of the best time in 16th, with factory Yamaha’s Alex Rins in 17th.
Enea Bastianini struggled to 18th over compatriot Lorenzo Savadori in 19th, while rookie Ai Ogura completed his session in 20th.
Somkiat Chantra took the flag in 21st, while Michele Pirro completed the standings in 22nd.
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