SRT Petronas rider Fabio Quartararo set the overall fastest time in the third Free Practice session for his home Grand Prix in Le Mans following a dominant performance throughout the event.
Quartararo improved on his pace lap after lap, only losing hold of the top spot briefly to team-mate Franco Morbidelli, who ultimately finished the session in third place after factory KTM rider Miguel Oliveira clinched a last-minute second place.
Yesterday’s man-of-the-moment Jack Miller struggled to find pace early on in the 45-minute stint as he hovered around the drop-zone just outside the top-ten before crashing at T8, high-siding his Ducati with less than five minutes to go-although the Aussie held onto a Q2 berth with an effort worthy of fourth late on.
Further disappointment was to be had for Team Ecstar Suzuki rider Alex Rins as the Spaniard low-sided into the gravel at Turn 3, a corner which seen several other crashes take place over the weekend.
His team-mate Joan Mir, however, had a stronger start to Saturday morning, as he was able to challenge for the top 3 spots in the first half; only to slide his Suzuki at Turn 3 in the final few minutes.
This denied the Mir a final shot to progress his GSX-RR directly into the pole shootout on Saturday afternoon as a result, the title contender dropping to 12th by the end of the session.
Joining Mir in Q1 will be Alex Marquez, who also fell victim to the same corner when he low-sided his Honda RCV213-V into the gravel, meaning that he ended up in 17th place just ahead of LCR Honda racer Taka Nakagami and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro in 18th and 19th respectively.
Factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi ended the session in 8th place despite a crash a Turn 4, just seconds after Jack Miller’s Turn 8 tumble.
Rossi’s team-mate, Maverick Viñales sits in 5th place and joins the No.46 rider in going through to the second Qualifying Session later today.
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